An Indomitable Iron Will
by DarkStarShadow
Summary: Sequel to "In The Dog's House". After a long string of bad headaches and rather out-of-character moments from their boss, Casey, Lily, Theo, and Fran decide to try and help RJ out. Unfortunately, it's something that not even RJ can fix.
1. The Rather Curious Predicament

Fran slipped the tape into the Jungle Karma Pizza home radio, grinning at the trio surrounding her. "This's going to be so awesome. RJ's always saying that we need to give the customers more bang for their buck. I think this'll do it."

"This song, though?" Theo asked, sounding a bit sardonic.

"It's perfect!" Fran snipped back. She readjusted her tone. "I mean…it mentions pizza a few times, and although it isn't up-tempo or anything, I think people can appreciate a good, classic song with their dinner."

"It's the only song we've practiced, anyways." Lily added.

"Alright, we're all in agreement now?" Casey asked.

"Fine." Theo reluctantly replied. "First, lemme get the Jumbo Jungle Pie over to Table Six, then I'll take my spot and we can do this little…experiment."

Theo grabbed his table's pizza out of the oven and swiftly made his way over to his table, and Casey quickly rang out a family as they walked up to pay. Lily grabbed the small table bell and sounded it several times, drawing attention to her and the rest of the JKP employees.

It was Fran's cue to play the tape, which promptly began playing a rather Italian sounding tune. Right on cue, Lily, Theo, and Casey began their lines.

"In Napoli, where love is king," Their voices melded into a slightly dissonant harmony, with Theo not even trying to keep in harmony with the other two. "when boy meets girl, here's what they say…"

Fran stepped to the front of the group and began her lines as the trio broke up and began getting back to work.

"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore. When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine, that's amore…"

As Lily grabbed a soda for a customer, Theo whispered to her on his way to retrieve another pizza. "Fran's actually pulling it off."

"At least she didn't faint this time." Lily replied, making Theo softly and quietly laugh.

"Bells will ring, ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling, and you'll sing 'Vita Bella'…"

RJ looked out from the kitchen as he realized that the music was drastically different than usual. "What's going on…?"

"Hearts will play, tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay, like a gay tarantella…"

RJ walked out and hit the stop button, causing Fran to turn around in a terrified manner. He gave her a confused look and walked up to her. "What are you doing?"

"I…was…entertaining the diners with song!" Fran stammered. "You said that we should try to give the customers more and…and I thought that a live performance would be a good idea!"

"I hired you guys to serve pizza, not pretend you're working at Johnny Rocket's. Get back to work." Fran gave a pained look, then quickly retreated into the kitchen. RJ watched her, addled at her reaction.

Casey, after checking in with his last table, sternly walked over to confront RJ. "What was that for?" He asked.

"What was what for?" RJ replied, sharing his completely addled look.

"Fran didn't have any work to do; we set this up so she'd have a bit of free time to sing for the dinner crowd. We've got all her tables covered between the three of us."

"Well, it's about time you guys managed to do something without me." He quipped, heading back into the kitchen without giving Casey a chance to respond.

"What crawled up his butt and died?" Lily asked Casey.

"No clue, but I hope it dislodges before Fran quits of misery."

"Or cries herself into dehydration and a trip to the hospital." Theo interjected.

RJ found Fran putting together a pizza on her own, mixing toppings that didn't quite go together. "What're you doing?"

"I'm trying to work." Fran replied.

RJ sighed deeply and walked up to her. "Sorry. Don't worry about it. I didn't know what you guys were out there doing." He tried to give her a big smile, but she didn't seem to need it.

"Well, um…surprise!" Fran laughed nervously, tossing her hands up and flinging cheese behind her. "I'll mop that up!" She said in a rattled tone.

"No, no! I got it." RJ insisted. "You just…go make sure the trio's doing what they're supposed to."

"No problem!" Fran said, smiling brightly and giving him a salute before running out the door.

If there was one thing RJ admired about Fran, it was her ability to bounce back to her cheery self ever so rapidly, like a rubber band snapping back after being let go. He envied it, to some extent.

He sighed deeply, then set his arms on the counter before lying his head on them. He then tried to focus his thoughts before going back to work.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked Fran as she walked out.

"Yeah! He apologized to me."

"Maybe he should apologize to me, too." Casey sulked as he grabbed a soda for himself.

"What happened out here?" Fran queried, looking concerned.

"RJ was still on his little tirade when Casey stood up for you." Lily replied as Fran helped her carry a pair of pizza stands over to a table near-overflowing with a large family gathering.

"Oh. Well, that was nice of Casey to do. He didn't have to stand up for me like that."

"Well, you're our friend," Lily replied. "and regardless of who does something bad to you, we're gonna stand up for you."

"Well, thanks."

With the work day finished, the quartet began cleaning up the shop for the next day.

"Hey guys…" RJ meekly called out to them as he left the kitchen. He walked out and addressed the group. "I'd like to say I'm sorry for being so negative today. I have a bad headache, and I don't mean to be so totally rude."

"That's okay. Everybody has bad days." Lily said, smiling softly.

"That's not-"

"You just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. It's okay. You don't need to explain yourself." Fran added.

RJ weakly smiled. "…Yeah. I just need a good night's rest." As long as they weren't going to pry, he wasn't going to continue. "I'm gonna go up to my room. You guys just finish cleaning the shop. When you're done, upstairs for meditation."

"Me too?" Fran asked.

"No, you go home. I'll see you all in the morning." He smiled warmly, then left them to their devices.

"Should I come back with some aspirin? I mean, do you guys have that?"

"Nah. He's probably gonna break out the chamomile tea and hit the hay like the last time he wasn't feeling good." Lily replied.

"I'm a little worried about RJ's health," Theo piped up as he finished cleaning the counters. "I mean, he's been like this on four separate occasions in the last three weeks."

"Maybe it's a terminal illness." Fran chirped, getting looks from her co-workers. "Or…maybe he has a nasty chronic sinus infection. I mean, he said he had a headache, and my dad caused an uproar when he got one last month, so…"

"Well, whatever it is, we shouldn't push his buttons." Lily commented, finishing up her cash register organizing. "That hasn't worked in our favor yet, has it?"

Several hours later, and the trio was still meditating, Lily becoming more impatient with every passing minute. A knock at the front door was just the excuse she needed to get up and move around.

Fran was on the other side of the door, carrying what looked to be an old doctor's bag. "Hi. I know RJ told me to go home, but well, my mom's a doctor and I guess I got it from her that if someone's sick, I just have to jump all over them and make them feel better."

Lily smiled. "Come on up. We're just meditating."

"Still? Wow. You guys do this all the time or something?" Fran said, walking in.

"Well, not all the time, and not as much as today, but there've been times where we've meditated for days on end."

"Whoa. I could never do that. I mean, if I meditated for days, my mom would think I was on a hunger strike or something."

Lily laughed softly and walked over to the boys, tapping them on the shoulder. They looked up at her, then over at Fran.

"Fran, what're you doing here?" Casey asked.

"I thought RJ told you to go home." Theo added.

"Well, both my mom and dad are at conferences for their jobs, so it's really quiet in the house, and I thought maybe you guys could make it seem less quiet, but you're here meditating and, well, that backfired." Fran laughed nervously.

"Fran." Lily gave her a look.

"Well, I brought a lot of medication with me in case RJ needed it, too." She walked over to them and sat down as she opened the bag. "I grabbed a ton of sinus medication for him, mostly generic OTC stuff, but also some name brands." She began digging out various boxes and pill bottles. "I got Benadryl, Advil cold and sinus, Excedrin, NyQuil, Robitussin, and even Nasonex; but I doubt that the last two will be of any help since he doesn't seem to be all that congested and coughy, does he?"

"Look at all this stuff! Did you rob a corner store or something?" Theo asked, gazing in awe at all the pills and syrups.

"No, my mom's a doctor. We have a lot of this stuff around the house." Fran blushed slightly. "So…should I just leave this stuff here, or should I bring it up to him myself?"

"You should leave it." Lily advised.

"He's got a 'quarantine' sign on his door. He obviously doesn't want company." Theo added.

"Well, I'll go bring it to him." Casey said. The trio looked at him. "Well, he's already yelled once today, so twice can't hurt that much."

"I'll go with you!"

"NO!" The Ranger trio shouted in unison. Casey then spoke up. "He told you to go home, and besides, he might be sleeping."

"Fine…I'll just stay here for the night."

The trio looked at her. "Where will you sleep?" Lily asked.

"You know the chair's off-limits." Theo added.

"I'll just sleep on the floor. I don't mind."

"I'll give you a pillow from my room." Lily responded, going towards her room.

"You can borrow one of my blankets." Casey added, going over to his hammock.

"Thanks guys." Fran replied, setting her bag in the corner.

_"What are you doing out here this late? We're supposed to be inside, meditating in the Great Hall!" He heard a faint voice call out, one from long ago. He turned around to see a young man dressed in an First Rank student's attire, his untamed brown hair sitting around his face._

He turned around the view the lower ranked young man. "I'm trying out this technique. You wanna join?"

"No, I'd just like for everyone to be inside meditating."

"Listen Towelboy," The young spike-haired master replied, using the affectionate name he had given the young man from the first day that he had joined Pai Zhuq. "I'm training on my own. I want to be on top of the group tomorrow for the big test. And besides, I want to learn this technique I found just sitting around in the library." He showed the First Rank student the scroll depicting an ancient technique. The Initiate recognized it immediately, and his eyes widened.

"But that's…that's illegal!" He said.

"Well, it's more of a lost art, really. Nobody banned it, they just stopped teaching it. I think I'm gonna bring it on back. You want to join me?"

The lower ranked young looked scared. "Of course not! I'd probably mess up anyways."

"Have faith, and take the leap, Towelboy! Nothing good ever came without a little sacrifice! I think you'd pull it off quite well, anyways. You're damn good."

The lower ranked young man gave a rather surprised look. "Oh don't flatter me. I'd rather see you do it first."

"Alright then. Sit back, and watch this master do his thing." He looked over the scroll a few more times, memorizing it.

Before he could dream of anything more, RJ's eyes shot open as he dropped out of his deep meditation. All of his incense had burned out, and the morning sun was shining through the curtains in a futile effort to brighten the room up. His fingers were dug deeply in the cartilage cushioning his kneecaps, threatening to tear both them and the kneecaps straight off in one quick yank. He forced his fingers to let go as he stood up, realizing the futility of his efforts.

He got up off his meditation mat and went out to get more incense.


	2. Four Standing Without Command

RJ walked downstairs, itching a scratch in his scalp as he slowly made his way down to the incense rack. As he stepped off the last step of the last flight of stairs, his foot connected with something other than the floor, and he tripped and fell.

Fran pulled her feet back and sat up as RJ got up, a sour demeanor enveloping him. He gave her a look as he spotted her. "What are you doing here?" He barked as he got to his feet. The trio woke up at the sound of his yelling.

"We tried to get her to leave, but she insisted that she stayed the night." Casey jumped in, quickly assessing the situation.

"Well why didn't you just toss her out?" RJ asked, setting his hands on his hips.

"She was really worried about you, and brought a ton of medicine for you." Lily added. "And anyways, both her parents are out of town on business trips, and I didn't wanna just send her home alone."

"I wanted to send her home, but they didn't agree with me." Theo chirped, trying to save himself.

"Please don't be mad at them," Fran asked, grabbing her glasses and putting them on. "I insisted that I should stay. I wanted to give you the medicine myself." She crawled out from under the blanket and grabbed the medicine bag. "Here, take it."

RJ opened the bag and shuffled through it, giving a mildly annoyed look. "Thanks, but no thanks, Fran." He gave her the bag back. "I don't take pills, because I don't like not knowing what's in the things that go into my body. No offense to your mom and her profession, but I don't trust anybody in the medical industry." He paused for a moment while she took the bag back. "You mom's a good dessert maker, though. I enjoyed the parfait she made for my birthday last year."

"I'll drop the hint to her then." Fran winked. "Well…is there anything I can do for you?"

RJ thought for what seemed like an eternity, but then answered. "You could run the shop for me today."

"Right on it, RJ!" She saluted him and scurried downstairs.

"And you three, get to work. I'm taking the day off." He grabbed a handful of yellow-sticked incense and sauntered back upstairs with a light limp.

Elsewhere…

"Master Dai Shi, may I present to you a dear old friend of mine, Spindarella!" Camille bowed and sidestepped as the rather imposing monster marched in behind her.

Eight long black belts branching out from her back wrapped around her torso, held in place by strategically placed silver webbing. Long silver dreadlocks comprised of silk-like webbing made up the arachnid Rinshi's decorative hair, and sharp yet chitinous plating lined what wasn't covered by the belts or the webbing. As Camille began to speak, Spindarella began giving a quick demonstration of her moves.

"Spindarella has returned from a long self-exile on a remote island. She was one of the best warriors we had against Pai Zhuq, if you recall."

"Yes, I remember you. It's about time you've returned. These children have been a problem for me for long enough."

"Forgive my lateness, Master. My web of informants reaches far and wide, but that sometimes means that I'm not exactly the first person to hear about such unfortunate things." She bowed quickly in an effort to appease Dai Shi. "I would be more than happy to destroy these little color-coded children of Pai Zhuq for you immediately."

"Then go, and take Camille and a few Rinshi with you." Dai Shi waved them out.

As Spindarella and Camille left Dai Shi's temple, Spindarella couldn't help herself. "Have you killed any Pai Zhuq in the Throne Room recently?" She asked excitedly.

"No, why?" Camille asked, feeling quite surprised that her trusted ally would ask such a question.

"I sensed the presence of Pai Zhuq in the Throne Room. You should check to find spies, or I could set a trap in there for you. I would be more than happy to destroy the threat for you."

"I…shall have Dai Shi notified of this." Camille replied.

"He doesn't know? You didn't either? This confuses me. Perhaps Dai Shi just got a little speck of their energy in his mane; my senses would've been able to pick that sort of thing easily. I shall drop the subject." Spindarella bowed slightly out of respect. "So, General Camille, tell me of these children. My informants only gave a vague description of them…"

Back at Jungle Karma Pizza…

Fran sighed as the last customer left for the hour. The rain began to come down in buckets. "Ugh, this weather's brutal today." Casey moped.

"You're telling me. Customer rate drops almost 58 percent during storms like these." Fran replied in a gloomy voice.

"I guess that's a good thing. We can just sit around and have a group meeting." Casey replied as he pulled a small pizza out of the oven. "One Jungle Team Pizza, for here." Everyone set a dollar and a quarter on the table in front of them as Casey brought the pizza over to the table, aligning the topping divisions perfectly with the people they matched.

"Sausage and onions?" Lily asked Fran.

"It's one of the only combinations I haven't tried yet." Fran replied.

"What other ones haven't you had yet?" Lily asked.

"Um, well…" Fran blushed. "Don't tell RJ but I…I haven't tried any of his favorites yet."

"Well, I wouldn't eat the Mocha Chile Lava Floe Special either." Theo replied. Lily kicked his shin underneath the table. "Ow, what was that for?"

"In truth I've been saving them for last. I mean, they must be delicious if they're his favorites."

"Or maybe he just has a…peculiar taste." Theo replied. Lily kicked his shin again. "Ow! Casey, switch with me." Theo grabbed his slices of mushroom pizza and switched with Casey, who was carrying his slices of pepperoni with him.

"I don't know. That Dragon Breath Red Curry Special sounds pretty good to me." Casey replied.

"It sounds like a night-long visit to the bathroom." Theo mumbled as he sunk his teeth into one of his slices.

"Wanna trade a slice with me?" Lily asked Fran to break the awkward silence, offering up one of her pineapple and garlic butter slices.

"Sure! I like pineapples. They're my fourth favorite pizza topping, just slightly under pepperoni, but right above red onions." She handed Lily a slice of her pizza and took Lily's offered slice. Lily took a bite of Fran's pizza and gave a pleased look.

"You've ranked your pizza topping preferences?" Theo asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Yeah! I've also ranked my preferences in cheese, in the sauces used, and even the crust texture. The original cheese pizza with the classic tomato sauce is my all-time favorite, but I think this sausage and white onion pizza with tomato sauce is in the top three."

"Intriguing." Theo replied, his genuine tone continuing. Lily gave him a look. "What? I really think it's interesting that she's completely set up a mental ranking list of her favorite pizza combinations! In fact, it's impressive!"

"Figures you'd like something associating with rank." Casey softly chided, masking his true intentions under his neutral vocal tone.

"How do you do it? Sometimes I forget simple math problems in my head, and it just frustrates me. Do you use a specific method or what?"

"Well, I've got a near photographic memory when it comes to things like lists and formulas. Stuff like memorizing dictionaries, diagrams, statistics, charts, it just comes really easy. RJ's got me doing all the bookkeeping, he thinks I'm so good at it!" Fran laughed. "At least I'm doing more for my pay!" She winked at Casey, who gave her a look she couldn't decipher.

After a bit of chatter, Fran finally dropped her slice, drawing attention. "Oh goodness…maybe that's it…" She grabbed the towel on her shoulder and wiped her hands on it, then stood up.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked.

She sighed deeply. "I was just thinking back to-"

Suddenly, the alarm on the trio's morphers went off. Fran sighed, knowing full well that her explanation was cut short. "I'll tell you when you come back." She sighed. "I think I might just go upstairs and talk to RJ about it. Maybe I'll feel better about it if I talk to him."

"You do that." Lily replied, setting a hand on Fran's shoulder. "We'll try to make this fight a quick one."

"You don't have to for me. Be careful, okay?"

"We'll be fine." The trio then left Fran to her own devices. She ran upstairs, feeling a bit upset over her bad luck.

She got up into the loft, expecting to see RJ in his chair, old radio microphone in hand, directing the trio to their battle, and she expected to just sit down next to the chair and talk to him, occasionally eating some of his chips or popcorn while he was entranced by the TV.

It was probably one of the few times they had together to just sit and talk these days, and the sudden and strange routine felt great to have.

So to find that RJ wasn't in his seat, and his bowl of snack food was nowhere in sight, she nearly had a panic attack.

"RJ?" She called out, looking around. Still no sign of him. She dashed up the stairs to his room. She noted that the purple sign with an Asian dialect she couldn't understand written on it with the stylized symbol inside a circle stamped on the bottom; what Theo called the 'Quarantine Sign', was still on his door. "What a horrible time to be sick." She mumbled to herself.

She knocked on the door. "RJ! There's a monster in the city!" She cried out, thinking that he may not have heard the alarm go off. "RJ! C'mon!" She knocked again. She sighed, then went to open the door, only to find it was locked. "Ugh." She groaned and ran back downstairs.

"RJ! Where are we going?" She could hear Casey's voice cry out from the TV station. She shuffled over and grabbed the radio microphone and stood in front of the chair. "Fran?" Casey called out as she appeared in his glasses' video screen.

"…You can see me?" She asked. She then noticed the camera wedged between two TV screens. "Oh. Sorry, but RJ's not responding. I'll try as hard as I can to fill in for him." She then looked around for any sign of monsters, and spotted them down in front of the strip mall about a mile away. "There! In the south strip mall, in front of the Java Juice! Those…bouncing things…" She softly bounced and held her hands out a bit, imitating the Rinshi she saw.

"We're right on it!" Casey cut the connection as they dashed off.

As Spindarella and Camille walked through the plaza, the arachnid warrior stopped and gasped.

Camille looked back at her comrade. "What is it?"

"I feel a strong Pai Zhuq influence here. A mighty aura…it can't belong to the young trio of students alone…" She seemed to panic as she felt it draw nearer. "What is this…? Rinshi, march to the east!"

As the Rangers approached the square, Fran's voice screeched. "Guys, stop!"

"Huh? Why?" Casey asked, stopping the others.

"I just saw something very terrifying. I'm afraid for you guys."

"What did you see?" Lily asked.

"What is it, Spindarella?" Camille asked. She got her answer, as a blaze of bright white fire shot through the Rinshi, incinerating them instantly.

"That energy…" Spindarella spoke. "It is that…burning light…"

Smoke spewed off of the tall white light as the rain poured down, diminishing the furious entity until it fell down and changed hue to an almost plasma-like violet. The Rangers ran into the scene and stared in awe.

"Another one?" Theo whined.

"I don't know…but judging by what it did to those Rinshi, I think we should take cover until we know for certain."

"What is this thing?" Camille asked Spindarella as she summoned up her sais.

"Prepare yourself, dear friend." She replied. "It is Pai Zhuq, and therefore must be exterminated."

The entity crouched and howled a twisted, haunting cry before charging full force on all fours at Camille and Spindarella.


	3. Falling On My Head

"This shall be no effort!" Spindarella held her hands in front of her face, preparing one of her signature moves. As the entity approached, she pulled her hands away, revealing a balled up string of high-tension silky web, which shot out of her mouth like a cannonball on a rope. The ball exploded in mid-air and attempted to swallow the entity whole, but as it connected, the entity's body incinerated it, sending a bright flame up the failed net.

Camille transformed into her Chameleon Armor and cut the web with her sai right before the fire reached her mouth. Spindarella summoned her leather belts to rise up from her suit.

"Wait!" Camille said, quickly taking a defensive pose. "We might want to save that for a last-ditch effort. Who knows if we can penetrate that aura…"

"Wow, that was pretty awesome…" Fran said over the microphone.

"RJ still not there yet?" Theo asked, getting annoyed.

"I'm afraid he's not." Fran replied.

"Well, RJ's not one for noticing the outside world when he's meditating…"

"You're telling me." She replied, sitting down in front of the television setup after finding the bag of tortilla chips. They closed the transmission again, and she watched the fight intently.

The entity launched itself at Spindarella, who once again prepared her second specialty.

"I won't lose to you!" The belts around her body pulled away, floating as if possessed. The eight straps launched out and shot through the aura, smashing the entity through its face, back and chest and sending it flying back into a barrel roll, stopping several yards away from the Rangers. They cowered behind the bushes as it looked back at them while shrugging off the blows.

It acknowledged their existence, then charged at Camille as if they weren't important.

"That was too close." Casey commented.

"Well, it's either not interested in us, or it's saving us for later." Lily spoke up. The boys looked at her with a looming feeling of malice. "What?"

Camille stood out in front of Spindarella. "I'll take care of this thing." She spun her sais around and charged at the entity. She slashed at the entity, passing cleanly through the aura, and it headbutted her, then followed up with a pair of swipes at her chest, sparks erupting from the clashing auras. She stumbled back and growled, which made the entity growl with her.

Camille spun her sai, then sent it straight down through the entity's left shoulder. She finally struck something solid and pushed through, feeling tendons and muscles give way under the blade. The entity gave a wicked howl that pierced the ears of all who stood witness, one that echoed pain and suffering.

Camille smiled and stabbed again, this time at the base of its neck. Delighting in the pain she was causing after almost being humiliated, she tried to repress a chuckle as the entity cried out again. As she went to pull the blade out, the handle became snagged. She twisted the blade and yanked it out, snapping off the offending object and sending it flying into a set of bushes nearby.

The entity stumbled back and whimpered, letting a little puddle of blood and rain form around its left front paw. The rain began to cut through the aura and pour into the wounds, irritating the already painful injuries. The entity's size dwindled by half as it began to retreat, and the Rangers sensed their cue to jump out.

"Stop right there!" Casey shouted, leaping completely over the entity as he made his way to the battlefield.

"It's about time you children stopped hiding." Spindarella taunted. "I've been waiting for you to show yourselves!"

"You knew we were here?" Theo asked, a little shocked.

"Well, I sensed a trio of weak auras in the area, so I assumed it was you three."

"Weak?!" Casey and Theo took a simultaneous offense to the sentiment.

"We'll show you weak!" Casey threatened. He summoned his Jungle Chucks and took to the offensive.

"Casey! Get back here!" Lily demanded.

"Casey, watch out!" Fran shouted, trying to block her eyes from watching what could happen to him.

Casey began spinning his nunchucks around, swatting away Spindarella's belt barrage. "You're fairly strong to swat away my advances, young tiger. But you won't escape my wrath!"

She swiftly summoned up another web trap and shot it at Casey, ensnaring him and encasing him in her tight grip. She began to draw him closer as Theo and Lily ran out to save him.

Camille jumped out in front of the duo and blocked their advance. "I don't think so!" She fired a barrage of poisonous darts from her mouth, which were quickly knocked aside between Theo's Jungle Tonfas and Lily's Jungle Mace.

Lily spun the meteor hammer around for a few moments, then let it fly, smashing Camille in the face and knocking her to Spindarella's side.

The arachnid Rinshi growled and swung the web containing Casey twice around her head, then slammed him into Lily and Theo, knocking them all out of transformation. "They even look like children!" Spindarella taunted as Lily and Theo tried getting up. "I can't fathom how they defeated my dear cousin in battle."

"They're as lucky as they are young." Camille quipped as she got up.

"Well, I grow bored of fighting these children. I wish to pursue the other Pai Zhuq!" Spindarella commented. "Come, General Camille! There are bigger bees in this web!" With a quick twirl and a crouch, she jumped high into the air, with Camille hot on her trail.

Casey squirmed about, his shouts muffled by the webbing. Lily and Theo panicked, then began to claw at the casing to free him.

Back at the loft…

Fran slowly closed the door behind herself, feeling a sense of dread wash over her. She wrapped her arms around herself for comfort as she dashed down the stairs and grabbed her notepad and pen, quickly scribbling down a note on one paper, then tearing it off and setting it on top of the TV sets. She then scribbled down another note for herself before stuffing the notepad and pen in her apron, then grabbing her umbrella and leaving.

Ten minutes later, the Rangers ran up to greet Fran, but found the entire loft shut down and empty. Theo turned on the lights and frowned. "Everyone's just disappearing on us now, aren't they?"

"Hey guys, she left a note." Casey picked the paper off the TV set. " 'Dear guys, family emergency, had to leave. Sorry. Hope Casey is okay. –Fran.' Huh. Hope everything's alright."

Theo walked upstairs and gave an interested hum. "I don't think it is." He muttered.

Meanwhile…

Spindarella and Camille entered the wooded area outside Ocean Bluff, searching for whatever the entity was. "It has grown considerably weaker. I have completely lost its trail." Spindarella bitterly commented. "You wounded it too greatly. I hope it's not dead. It'd be a shame to lose a worthy opponent."

"I still don't understand why we didn't just kill the Rangers when we had the chance. Master Dai Shi will be greatly displeased by this."

"Why would he want three worthless brats when he can have the head of something much more formidable?" Spindarella pensively replied. "Besides, what is the use of fighting infantile and flavorless prey already too weak to escape the web, when the challenge of ensnaring something far more mature, and therefore tastier, lies within your grasp?" Her lips quivered in bliss.

"I would rather get what Dai Shi wants right now, to make him favor…us. Don't you want to be on his good side?"

"You aren't worried about the fact that this one is stronger than those three? Wouldn't Dai Shi be happy if we brought this one to him in his honor?"

Camille thought for a moment, then smiled. "You have a point. Now, try to find it."

Back in town, Fran softly jogged in the pouring rain, her umbrella providing little help or shelter in the weather. It seemed as if the rain was getting worse, not better.

She approached the plaza and looked around, slowly trying to remember the prior events as the images raced through her head.

She ran the image of the foreign object flying through the air into the…bushes. Of course, because if it was just sitting around somebody would've noticed it, particularly Theo.

Shouldn't Theo have noticed this, or was he too busy watching the fight? It wasn't much like her to notice the little things in movies or TV shows, and all those detective shows always threw her for a loop, but she was desperate to know what was going on.

She had begged her friends at one time to tell her exactly why it was that they kept disappearing, and they told her. Now she wanted to know something else of importance that, to her, had a simple answer, and nobody had the answer. She was told that if nobody had the answer, to find it herself, and now was as good of a time as any to do just that.

She walked over to the bushes sitting in front of a trendy café and rummaged through them, finding the now familiar trinket nestled at the bottom of the bush closest to the fight. Her stomach turned, and she stood for nearly a minute, stunned. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she frantically tried to think of what to do.

She slid the trinket into her apron pocket and looked around. "If I were badly hurt, and if I were very secretive, and I didn't want anyone to know what happened to me…" She turned to face the direction which the entity ran off in. "I would go as far away as I could. At least…I would if it were me. Not that I wouldn't try to go to my friends for help…but then again, this sort of thing would require a lot of question answering that I wouldn't want to do." She began walking away from the plaza, following the little spots and tiny tributaries in the blacktop that ran red with the entity's blood. "I hope I find him first."

RJ's eyes shot open, and with it, the realization of his surroundings…and the sharp screams of pain racing through his body. He suppressed his screams and tried to focus on what he had woken up to.

Dripping water, outside…cold rain. Leaves, trees, dirt, rock he was using as a pillow apparently…wooded area outside of town. Throbbing pain in his forehead and chest…he'd gotten into a fight and lost to some degree. Burning shoulder, lack of feeling in his neck…he'd lost badly. Same sensation throughout his arm…he'd lost really badly.

He tried to move his left arm and failed. He realized that he'd have to move it manually later. First task, to sit up.

His face was half-planted in the crevice of a large rock, and his right arm and leg were pinned underneath his body. The way he was laying, he figured that he had collapsed of exhaustion. Given that he had already assessed that he'd been used as a mop during some sort of fight, it made plenty of sense to him.

He slid his right arm out from under him, followed by his left leg. The subtle movements of his torso caused his neck to bitch and whine at him, so he decided upon letting his head jostle about instead of trying to lock it in place as he tried to get up.

Getting in a bowing position, he shifted what remained of his strength to his right arm and pushed up against the ground, then against the rock, eventually arching back on the balls of his feet and forcing himself into a squatting position which quickly dropped down to a sitting position.

He grabbed his left arm and pulled it closer to his face, turning it so he could see his watch.

Thirty-five minutes.

He sighed, knowing that this was probably the shortest blackout he'd ever had, which was always fortunate, a lot could've been done in that time, especially considering that he had started out in his room in the loft.

Obviously, somebody had taken notice of him, or vice-versa, and something had happened. He hoped it wasn't his students.

His wounds seemed unusual, considering how useless and aching the areas around them were. He ripped off some of his shirt sleeve and pressed it against his shoulder wound, inspecting the blood after a short time had passed.

Blood wasn't tinted purple.

His fingers that sat under the material began to tingle, which made him drop the cloth piece entirely. His fingertips went numb and began to gain a soft purplish hue. Some sort of paralysis toxin, apparently. He winced and stood up, getting his bearings completely in check, despite both his body and spirit feeling completely drained.

He could have slept for days and it wouldn't have mattered at this point. It had to be the reason his tirade only lasted thirty-five minutes; he just completely lost all of his ability to do anything.

He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. Sure, he was in the wooded area outside of town, but how far away? Was he close to the dam, or closer to the lake? He began to recognize the clearing and tried to not laugh at the irony.

These trees were so familiar; he could remember that they once bore leaves that brightly shone in shades of maroon and orange that heralded the end of the warm and secure season they were desperately escaping from. Now they were spindly and bare and soaked in rain, somehow mimicking his own disposition as they had before like it was their job to do so. He turned around and could faintly recall the last time he had been here…

_Ahead of the young master dressed in rather mismatched purple civilian wear stood his own master, cloaked in an orange suit and matching hat._

"_You kick me out, and now you won't stop following me. What more do you want from me?" The younger male shouted._

"_I came to make sure that you've been working on the nasty temper you've developed. I can see that you haven't done much."_

"_Well, I would meditate if there was a bare surface to do it on. I would light incense and try to rest if I had incense and a blanket to lie on. I'd eat something if I was allowed to take something to eat with me. You kind've left me with little more than what I'm wearing." He had felt physically cold until the older man arrived, when a spike in internal temperature surged through him. Blind rage threatened to crush his sense of reason and take the older male with it._

"_Our policy is to not give those we depose more amnesty than they need. Besides, if you had spent more time walking and less time sitting and complaining, you would've made it into town by now, and you could've already been in town eating, meditating, and relaxing in a rest house."_

"_With the shitty severance pay I got? The cost of living is a lot more these days than what I got from you." The younger man stood up and grabbed his backpack, preparing to leave the older man alone._

"_That was your father's idea, to give you something to live off of. You should thank him."_

"_He voted me out of the temple. I won't be thanking him for anything for a very long time." The younger man began to walk past the older man._

"_You're young and vivacious, but still immature and unable to handle your own situation. As much as you think we're doing this out of malice, we're doing it out of compassion." The younger man looked at the older man, trying to figure out where he was going with his sudden speech. "You've always been an independent and solitary student, wise beyond your years. It's why you are already a master, and why we had even allowed you to take on a student of your own."_

"_You're telling me stuff I already know…why?"_

"_You've gone too far this time. You used a restricted technique, and your lack of experience nearly killed ten students, including your own, and caused extensive damage to the front wing of the temple that will take us years to repair." The younger man found himself looking at the leaf-covered ground beneath him, feeling like more of a sheep than a wolf._

"_So I messed up, and instead of helping me, you're kicking me out when I could use your guidance the most?"_

"_You've learned most of what you know on your own. You'll certainly do it now, because I have faith that your wisdom shall override your instincts." He reached into his coat and pulled out a small orange sealed envelope. "This shall help you focus on your center." The younger man took it with an air of suspicion and looked it over before finding it to be of worth and sliding it into his backpack. "I will keep in touch with you."_

"_Good luck finding me." The younger man chided bitterly before departing._

RJ frowned at the mental reminder of his former naïveté and reached for his neck to try and secure himself. As his fingers set against bare skin devoid of threads and charms, he panicked. His focusing charm necklace, and his personal choker he made out of his old uniform cords were both missing, and the feeling of completely losing his security blanket set in.

"I lost it…as if I wasn't having enough bad luck…" He grumbled to himself. "I guess I have to try and retrace my steps…" He went to walk and found himself swaying, a move which forced him to lean against a tree. "I get the hint…I can go slowly…" He rolled his body away from the tree next to him and pushed himself off it towards the next tree.

Back at the loft…

Theo held up the broken incense stick. "Fran left in an awful hurry, didn't she?"

"You saying that she broke into RJ's room?" Casey sounded heavily confused.

"Yes, I am. This was lying right by the door, and RJ's door is unlocked. I just checked it."

"Do you think he got mad at her and chased her out?"

"Fran? No. He's more likely to crush an ant than scare Fran enough to make her leave. If you meant you, me, or Lily, that would be another story entirely." Casey began following Theo downstairs.

"'Out of service range'?" Lily asked her phone, giving it an odd look. "What do you mean, 'out of service range'?"

"What's wrong, Lily?" Theo asked.

"Fran's cell phone is out of service range. That's impossible un-"

"Unless she ran out into the woods or the quarry." Theo finished for her.

"I'm not liking this, you guys." Casey muttered in his usual ominous tone.

"Neither am I." Theo replied as Lily walked past the two. "First RJ stops talking to us, now Fran's run off, and-"

"RJ's not here." Lily replied in a stunned tone from upstairs. Theo looked up at her, then ran upstairs to find her standing in front of RJ's room, the door as wide open as RJ's bedroom window.

"What's going on around here…?" Theo looked around the room, picking up on signs that something rather rapid and violent had occurred.

"I see her!" Casey cried out from downstairs. The duo charged down to the TV sets, where Casey was focused on a screen rarely looked at.

"There, I just saw her on one of the cameras pointing out near the woods around the lake." Casey pointed out where on the screen he had seen her.

"Why is she out there?" Lily asked Casey.

"She must be following that thing." Theo grimaced and shook his head. "She's got too big of a heart sometimes."

"For once, Theo, I agree." Lily replied. The trio ran out towards the woods, morphing before they even got to the vines.

RJ continued on down the path, trying to work his way back to town from memory. He couldn't recall working this hard to keep himself awake, even the time he crashed off a sugar high that would've killed most diabetics. The numbness in his neck was spreading up his spine, making it subsequently harder to move and think. He could feel his internal temperature rising as his body fought to stop the toxin, but it was a sudden spike in the air temperature around him that worried him more than his immune system's losing fight.

This spike in temperature began turning rain to steam dragging a sense of increased alertness with it.

"What's setting it off…?" RJ muttered to himself in wonder as he leaned against a tree.

Across the way…

Spindarella stopped suddenly, closing her eyes and reaching out to her left.

"What i-" Spindarella held a finger to Camille's mouth, silencing her quickly.

"Do you hear that sound…?" Camille nodded in the negative. "Listen harder. I hear…a melody…"

Farther down the path…

Fran tightened her hat as she closed her umbrella, which had become a victim of a branch's malice. She began to hum an old tune, but quickly began softly singing the lyrics.

"Oh, raindrops keep falling on my head, but that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red…"

Spindarella held her hand out in front of her. "I sense…lingering energy coming from the direction of the sound. The energies of the children, in fact…and the other one."

Camille turned pale green. "…the other one, as well?"

"But I don't sense a unique energy of its own…it's all residual." Spindarella mused. "From the sound of the voice, I would say that it's a regular human woman."

"Hmmm…" Camille mused. "So that…Fran girl has come to save her beloved bumbling boss. How…romantic." Camille felt a passing sense of jealousy, which worried her a bit. Why was she so jealous of a stupid little girl anyways?

"What are you talking about?"

"The Rangers, they live a double life working a little pizza parlor during the day with a bumbling idiot for a boss and a little bookworm as an assistant. The bookworm is just a silly little girl named Fran, but their boss was definitely Pai Zhuq. I guess I underestimated his power a bit."

"A bit? You sound utterly shocked that the two could possibly be the same thing." Spindarella quipped.

"Well, as I said, he is rather bumbling. If he hadn't almost attacked me during a covert operation, I would've never thought he was Pai Zhuq." Camille corrected her.

"Well then…perhaps we should attract the hummingbird with a little nectar?" Spindarella grinned.

"I was just about to suggest that very thing."

"Brilliant minds think alike!"

Far back in the woods…

RJ began to feel the aura around him burning at the toxin under his skin, nipping at the numbness and bringing feeling back ever so slowly. It seemed to intensify and breathe a second wind into him the longer it burned, despite both its and his own drained quality. A feeling that he was being watched crept over him, the kind of feeling he hated more than anything…besides the feeling of his own incompetence.

"…Am I being followed?" He wondered aloud as he quickened his pace.

Suddenly, a scream rang out, and his eyes widened as he realized that it was Fran. "What's she doing here?" A thought crossed his mind that his rather smart employee got her smart self wrapped into a not-so-smart situation. "I fear that this's one of those times when her love of knowledge is not a good thing…" He sighed deeply and began to run in the direction from which her scream came.

"Go away!" Fran opened her ripped umbrella and attempted to use it as a shield.

"What's that gonna do? Shake rain all over me? I'm already wet!" Spindarella mocked Fran and laughed.

"I know I don't know any kung fu, but I do have mace, so stand back or I'll spray you!" She pulled the small canister out of her apron pocket.

"What's that gonna do? Make me smell good?" Camille chided, approaching Fran.

Fran let the umbrella down and sprayed the peppery mist all over Camille's face, causing the chameleon woman to drop her sais and attempt to shield her eyes to no avail. "It burns! Get it off!"

Fran then, with the speed and reflexes of a rather panicked waitress, simultaneously slammed the handle of her umbrella against Camille's head while closing it, making it mimic a knight's lance. She then slammed it over Camille's head repeatedly, trying to swat away the livid reptilian female. When that didn't work, she jabbed Camille in the stomach and chest, her blows doing more to knock Camille back than any real damage.

"General Camille!" Spindarella shouted in shock. How could a mere human hurt a general of Dai Shi like this? It made absolutely no sense…but then again, she was apparently a companion of the Pai Zhuq members in the area. Perhaps she was more dangerous than once thought, which gave Spindarella all the reason she needed to use all the force she wanted.

She fired a quick shot of webbing, ensnaring the umbrella's top and giving Spindarella the leverage to yank it away. She then tore that webbing away from her mouth, then rapidly shot another web rope at Fran, catching her in the still outstretched arm and engulfing it in the sticky substance.

Fran dropped her mace and began trying to claw the web off with her right hand. "Get over here!" She tore away the web and wrapped it around her hand with speed and accuracy only gained through many years of practice. She then yanked on the webbing, jostling Fran towards her and knocking the girl off her feet. Fran screamed and tried harder to pull away from the webbing, but it was no use.

"Oh, don't worry silly human! You're worth more to me alive!" Spindarella laughed.

As if on cue, a purple blaze shot through the trees and clamped onto Spindarella's left shoulder with a set of flaming jaws, sending sparks flying from the clashing auras. Spindarella let go of the net and began clawing at the entity's jaws, trying to get it off of her.

Fran fell to the ground and crawled away to the safety of an oak tree with a low branch where she could watch the fight in peace.

Spindarella peeled the jaws back and flung the entity nearly twenty feet away, only to have it land on its feet and growl. "I'm surprised that my paralysis toxin hasn't killed you yet…you are worthy of us indeed." Camille commented as she got to her feet. She closed her eyes and focused on the creature's aura as she summoned up her sais. "Perhaps I haven't hit you enough times yet!" She ran at him cautiously, spinning her sais to assure her grips on them were tight.

The entity inhaled deeply, then let out a piercing howl which forced everyone to cover their ears. The shockwave from the howl shot through the rain and smashed into Camille, sending sparks up and knocking her off her feet and all the way back to Spindarella's side. Camille curled up momentarily as Spindarella charged at it.

As the entity inhaled deeply again, Spindarella was surprised by a heavy metal ball swinging up and smashing her in the head.

"Come and pick on us, you overgrown house pest!" Casey taunted as he, Theo, and Lily took positions that indicated their desire to charge into the fight. Lily swung her Jungle Mace about, preparing to make another attack.

"Fran! Get out of here!" Theo shouted, shooing her away. The entity looked over at Fran, then walked over towards the tree she was perched in as the Rangers sprinted towards Spindarella.

"Ha!" Spindarella shot off another burst of web at the Rangers.

Theo, in a moment of clarity, charged to the front of the group.

"Call to the beast inside! Unleash the jaguar!"

A blazing blue light surrounded him that shot forth on his command, taking the form of his animal spirit as it rocketed towards the webbing. As the jaguar spirit connected with the sticky net, it burst into flames. If Spindarella and the others could've seen Theo's face, they would've seen him beaming with pride.

"Just as I thought." He gloated, crossing his arms and standing proudly.

Camille got up and leaped high into the air towards Fran's tree. The entity spotted her and bounded up the tree trunk as the chameleon warrior began to descend. With no time for mistakes, the fiery being leaped off the trunk and flew at Camille with claws and fangs bared, sinking them all into her as they connected in mid-air.

Sparks flew about as they crashed to the ground and rolled, eventually stopping with the entity on top of Camille. It went in to bite her again, and she quickly shot the dagger through its head, feeling the blade slice through the top layers of skin. It flinched and yelped, then swatted the sai out of her hand.

She winced and spun her other sai, sinking it into its lower back. The entity howled in pain and whimpered, becoming stunned long enough for her to kick it off her sai. Fran gasped and looked away as it slowly got up and circled around, limping and weakened considerably.

The Rangers prepared for Spindarella's next attack, which came in the form of her belts. Lily laughed softly and waited, still spinning her mace rhythmically.

"I'll draw her fire for ya, Lily." Casey commented.

"Thanks, Casey."

"And I'm waiting on you two, so hurry up." Theo said, summoning his Jungle Fans.

Casey slowly made his way around the field, drawing Spindarella's attention. Lily watched the belts chase Casey around as she waited for the perfect moment…

There!

"Casey, duck!"

Casey dropped to the ground as Lily tossed the meteor hammer with a curve, making the cannonball end spiral in the air. As the ball circled around the belts, the chain followed and wrapped around them, and once Lily tugged back tightly, she stopped their movements and held them in place.

"Finally!" Theo ran forwards and, with a quick spin, cut through all of the belts with the fans.

Spindarella stumbled back and patted down her now trimmed down belts. "No! You little brats! What have you done!"

"Retreat!" Camille shouted, grinning.

"…Huh?" Spindarella asked, sounding greatly confused.

"Our job is done."

Although Spindarella didn't agree with the sentiment, she collected her wits and put her best face on. She turned and bowed at Camille. "Yes, General Camille." They both then leaped high in the air and out of sight.

Fran slowly slid down the tree and grabbed her can of mace. The entity slowly walked up softly to her and began clawing at the webbing around her arm, letting it burn away without hurting her arm.

"See? It's an animal spirit, like ours. That's how I knew to use my jaguar animal spirit against her webbing." Theo replied to Casey and Lily, who were watching on the scene between the entity and Fran with him.

They watched as it backed up, whimpered, then jogged off. Fran's eyes widened and she got up. "Wait! Waiiiiiiit!" She began to run after it, causing the Ranger trio to panic.

"Fran! Stop!" Casey shouted. He charged out after her, but was quickly stopped by a wall of Rinshi dropping out of the trees. "C'mon!" Casey whined, wigging out slightly. "What is it with you guys today? Can't you see we're too busy for you?"

"They're undead, Casey. I doubt they'd understand 'We're too busy for you'." Theo curtly replied, sounding annoyed with Casey's impatience. "Let's just get through them as fast as we can."


	4. The Former Student's Mercy

"RJ

"RJ! Wait up!" Fran continued to run, as fatigued as she had become. She could hardly believe that he, as badly wounded as he was, could still running at twice her speed. Even with the rain pouring down and dripping onto her glasses, her eyes focused on the flickering violet flames that danced across his body and hid his true self from sight.

After a few minutes, he stopped to rest, and she caught up and collapsed next to him. She gasped for air as the last bits of her stamina steadied itself to keep her from passing out. She found a relatively dry part of her clothes and began drying off her glasses. "Ya know what, RJ? I bus tables all day, and I walk all around town, but I can't run after you anymore!" She looked up and saw a black blur standing in front of them, one that had caused RJ to suddenly become defensive.

She put her glasses on and gasped as the blur filled out and sharpened, taking the form of a man in a black suit of lion-themed armor. She panicked and let out a terrified squeal as RJ put himself between the two of them.

The man laughed softly and sadistically, making Fran let out a smaller yet equally terror-filled whimper. "Pathetic little girl." He muttered in an unearthly tone as he approached them. RJ hunched up on all fours to try and lunge full force, but then promptly collapsed. "So we meet again, mighty wolf. It's a shame that we're here now with you in this condition; I've always seen you to be a strong and untamed beast, yet here you are, stumbling and guarding this human like you're the girl's hurt pet." RJ growled at him out of contempt.

He stood where he was, apparently looking the pair over. "I see that I'm just wasting my time here with the both of you. Go before I decide to tear apart what's left of you two." Fran cocked her head to the side, feeling severely confused. She was sure that this was Dai Shi, but he…wasn't going to kill them? She decided to not press her luck.

She stood up slowly and began to walk towards Dai Shi, continuing down the path out of the woods. RJ then sprang up and walked beside her, making sure to keep himself between her and Dai Shi until they had made it back into town.

Fran turned around to face RJ. "Where should I take you? It's your choice." She looked to the left, which would bring them to JKP and the loft, then to the right, which led to her home. "Left or right? Your place or mine?"

RJ looked in both directions, walked a circle around her, then ran down his chosen path. "Figures." She muttered as she began to run after him. "Wait up!"

Several minutes later…

"Fran!" Casey shouted, the trio now out of their suits and back in their color-coded uniforms. They wandered into the empty streets, looking around for her. It was a wonder that nobody besides Fran had asked about them being Power Rangers; they wandered around after the emptied streets and plazas so much when people were running…but now wasn't the time to think about such strange things. They had lost sight of Fran because of the Rinshi, and they still had yet to see her since.

"She couldn't have gotten this far away from us in that short a period of time." Theo griped.

"Maybe she went back to JKP." Lily suggested. "I mean, maybe she lost sight of the animal spirit too."

"And if she's still out chasing it, we'll see her, won't we…?" Casey slyly asked, grinning. "Let's go." The trio began to run to JKP.

Meanwhile, far away…

"My belts! My lovely belts!" Spindarella shouted, holding one up to show Camille how limp and lifeless it was.

"My eyes! My lovely eyes!" Camille replied, mocking her companion's tone in a way that let the arachnid woman know that Camille cared very little for her troubles and more about herself. The chameleon's eyes were bloodshot, and a pair of red rings around her eyes had begun to form.

"That human's toxin was about as potent as those blue child's fans…I'm impressed." Spindarella mused, looking Camille over.

"Shut up!" She hissed. "You just stay here and…recover or mope or…whatever. I'll talk to Dai Shi on my own."

Camille blinked several times on her way to the throne room, where Dai Shi sat, waiting patiently for her.

She grinned happily and took her usual position. "Dai Shi! You look…well rested today."

Dai Shi looked rather lost in thought as she continued. "I have great news! There's been a new threat in town, but Spindarella and I have-"

"Make an anti-toxin." He gave her a marginally blank stare. She stopped mid-sentence and her eyes widened as her joy melted into a mixture of confusion and rage.

"…Wh…what?!" Her face contorted into a pained and rage-filled visage. "This's the closest we've gotten to destroying any of the Pai Zhuq, and…you want me to reverse it?"

"If it was anyone but him, I would be pleased."

Camille gave him a concerned look. "I…am not sure what you mean."

Dai Shi smiled. "I didn't quite believe that it was him from the way you spoke of him…but I saw that untamed animal spirit bounding around the forest, I knew I was wrong." He laughed softly. "It's been years since I saw that brilliant and powerful being…" Camille sat down on the floor and paid attention as Dai Shi began his usual story-telling regimen by cracking his neck.

"_Master, where are we going? Shouldn't we just go meditate with the others?" The young man tried to beg the slightly older male in the most respectful tone he could. After all, despite the closeness in age, the stiff-haired young man in the purple gi with the sleeves tied up above the elbows with muy thai cords was the officially designated leader of the pair, best indicated by him having his own insignia on the tail end of his twisted headband. The designated leader seemed rather adamant on continuing on with his motivated march around the academy, despite his subordinate's passive demands._

"_This is not the time to meditate, young lion," The older male replied in a low voice. "we have work to do."_

"_Wait." The older man looked back at his rather worried cohort. "I still don't understand what we're doing."_

"_You don't?" He asked, sounding annoyed. "How could you not? Can't you feel it?"_

"_Feel what, Master?" The younger man looked confused._

_The older man looked his student over, then grinned. "Maybe it's because you're but a lion cub. You don't have the ability to feel the things that should not exist around us, I suppose." He turned around and nodded. "I should explain, then. Young lion, there is a deep, dark entity within this den. I have sensed it on many occasions, and although it has not grown stronger, it still is very strong and still a great threat to this den of ours."_

_The younger man's eyes widened. "Why hasn't Master Mao taken care of such a thing?"_

"_Maybe he can't." The young master grinned. "Maybe he's too afraid to face it."_

"_And we're the only ones who're neither." The student replied._

"_I've taught you well." The teacher beamed with pride. "Now, are you with me?"_

"_Of course, Master."_

_They continued walking through the torch-lit academy, the student's fears becoming greater as they continued. "…Master?"_

"_What?"_

"_Are…you alright?"_

"_I am fine."_

"…_Your arms are shaking badly. Are you afraid?"_

"_Afraid? Are you suggesting that I have any fear whatsoever?" The young master laughed. Wondering what his student meant, he held his arms out in front of his face. Much to his surprise, they were, in fact, shaking much like rattlesnake tails. _

"…_This one is weak…" He sounded disappointed. "The weak tremble, falter. The weak try to force whatever resistance they can…but the weak always fall." He closed his eyes and went through the steps in the technique he had done mere minutes before. As he went through the final step, a soft and nearly invisible purple fire spread across his hands and up his arms, soon consuming his body entirely, standing around it and warming the room considerably. _

_He then looked at his arms and smiled. "There. Better. This one should not need to be so trembling in the prospect protecting his den."_

"_You're on fire!" The student warned._

"_Oh, it doesn't hurt." The young master grabbed his terrified student's arm, leaving him completely unharmed. "You feel that warmth? It is proof of my strength. I will never hurt my pack, unless they stand between me and the wicked." He smiled warmly. "Now, let us continue. Thank you for your concern." He ruffled his student's hair and continued forwards._

_He had only walked a handful of steps before he stopped, looking over at a dimly-lit doorway belonging to the Third Rank dormitory/meditation room. He took a defensive stance as a figure stepped out, and to both their surprises, it was Master Mao. The elder master usually meditated with his fellow Arch Masters at this time._

_Master Mao's eyes widened when he saw the young master. "I sensed that you two were here, but…what have you done to yourself, Randall?"_

_The young master growled. "Don't call me that."_

"_Master Mao," The young man bowed of respect. "have you been aware of the great danger that lurks here in the academy?"_

_Master Mao gave them both a look and seemed a bit surprised that they seemed to know of it. "Of course I have. It is well guarded and none of your concern. Now Randall-"_

_The fire grew in intensity around the young master's body. It became brighter and started becoming translucent, beginning to hide the young man's body beneath it. "Not only do you not honor my request, but you let that thing live willingly? You'd let a hunter sleep in our den? What kind of Arch Master are you?" He sounded completely disgusted._

"_You've gone too deep into the Spirit Binding technique. Please stop before you cause too much damage to yourself or others."_

"_I will not harm anyone if they don't stand in my way. I will not let this thing sleep in my den!" The young master shouted, becoming more hidden in the continuously growing flames. _

"_Stop it this instant! If you don't maintain control of yourself, the damage you cause to yourself will be irreversible!" Master Mao warned._

"_My well-being is second to the safety of my den!" The young master dashed at Master Mao. The student of the trio panicked, and grabbed his master's arm in an attempt to stop him._

"_Wait, Master! Please!" The student clung tightly to his master's arm, knowing it was most likely the only thing keeping his master from getting thrown out._

_The young master stopped and turned around, looking his student square in the eyes. "Are you turning against me?" He looked hurt._

"_I can't let you hurt Master Mao! You'll be thrown out!"_

"_Sacrifices must be made to protect everyone, then. Even if it's you and me." His face contorted and, with a quick twist, yanked the student off his feet and sent him flying into a pillar and knocking him out cold._

"Well, he sounds nice," Camille faked a smile. "but what does this have to do with our current situation?"

Dai Shi smiled warmly, which scared Camille. "I owe him once for sparing my life, and for being such a wise teacher."

"Yes, quite wise…" Camille tried hard to smile at the sentiment.

"He taught me to pursue my inner power, to not let others degrade me while mingling with them, and that I should pursue my own path to greatness. I may have become a weakling without him, and he has made me the fierce warrior that sits before you. I now understand why the Rangers have been such a nuisance…" He stood up and began to approach her. "He must be opening their eyes as well. I wonder if he retained his teaching methods…he must have, considering how strong they've gotten…"

"Well, I'll go…begin making an anti-toxin, then." Camille replied. "I'll send Spindarella to keep the Rangers busy."

"No. When we depart to deliver your anti-toxin, we shall unleash her. The wolf is a creature of extreme hatred of evil and injustice, and even if we send her to the other side of the city, we may awaken it."

"…Right."

"And what happened to your eyes?" He stopped on front of her, giving her an odd look.

"The…human girl, had employed a powerful caustic concoction in her attempt to stop me…my face just broke out like this. I'm quite ashamed to admit it, but I'm impressed by the human girl's tenacity."

"Apparently my former master has rubbed off on her as well." He smiled as he walked out of the throne room and out towards her quarters.

Camille, finding her chance, growled and stamped her feet. "This's the worst humiliation of my entire life!" She shouted.

Meanwhile…

Fran unlocked her front door and looked at her watch she opened the door. "I guess it's not too odd that he didn't really run into anyone; I mean, it's not five yet, so no rush hour, and well, I guess some people might still be afraid that there's Rinshi about, so…hm."

She closed the door behind the limping RJ, taking her keys out of the knob. "Do you think you can make it up a flight of stairs really quick?" She asked him. He turned around and looked at the stairs. "I've got somewhere you can just conk out for a few days or whatever." She weakly smiled. He trudged up the stairs after her, slowing down quicker now than he had in the last twenty minutes prior.

She opened the last door on the left and revealed a rather wide open room and a queen-size bed which belonged to her. The walls were painted to look like a giant collection of trees in the forest, and from the ceiling hung hundreds of small pillows that were sewn up to like maple and oak leaves in the autumn. Her comforter was stitched to look like a collage of the same kinds of leaves, and her carpet was painted in the same manner as her sheets.

She quickly pulled her comforter off, revealing a plain brown cover sheet that sat above her actual sheets. "Bed's all yours. I'll be right back."

She ran to the bathroom and began rummaging around, looking for her mother's heavy-duty first aid bag. She opened the cabinet beneath the sink and rummaged through, finding the brown leather bag with ease. She grabbed a pair of allergy-free examining gloves as well and ran back to her room.

She had to stop in the doorway, as the sight before her terrified her. She knew that she would eventually have to see RJ, in the flesh, sprawled out across her bed and heavily injured, but this proved to be much more than she imagined.

From afar, Fran immediately thought that the indigo blotches snaking across his arms, face, and neck were just the wounds and the surrounding areas necrotizing from prolonged exposure. As she walked over slowly, however, she realized that the epidermis was unharmed and that all of the discoloration was underneath.

She sighed and put the gloves on, then reached into the bag and grabbed the scissors and cut straight through his shirt. She looked at the tag on the inside, memorizing his shirt size so she could get him another one later. As she peeled the shirt away, she saw that the murky non-necrotization had spread across most of his back as well, and that it was spreading from the wounds themselves. She shook her head, as she had no clue what to do about it.

As far as actual things she knew how to treat offhand, he had a long cut across his left cheek, a deep puncture in the back of his neck, another close by in his left shoulder, and a final one in his lower back, above his right hip. His hands and bare feet looked scraped up slightly from having to travel on them, but they were the least of her worries. Right now, she needed to try and work on the puncture wounds, as they looked to be a bit too deep for comfort.

She pulled out the antiseptic and the cotton balls, setting them aside as she reached over and grabbed her waste basket. She then began cleaning out the wounds as best as she could by just sticking cotton balls in the holes, making sure to soak up as much of the black fluid that she could. After she had mopped what she could, she sprayed in the antiseptic, which made him wince and inhale roughly with every spritz.

Once she had done what she could, she dug out the antibacterial ointment, gauze pads, and tape to patch him up. She wanted to sew up the shoulder wound badly, but she knew how painful it would have been if she attempted to sew him up without proper anesthesia. She quickly went through the process of patching up the wounds, antibacterial gel and all.

She set everything back in the bag and looked over at RJ, who seemed to be resting peacefully for the moment. She pulled off her gloves, softly pushed him completely onto the bed, then covered him up with her comforter.

Her mind then drifted over to how rain-soaked she was, and how pneumonia didn't need to be on either of their lists of problems. "He's probably drenching my sheets…" She muttered to herself, wondering what she should do.

Meanwhile…

"Have you found them?" Lily asked, sounding worried.

"They're nowhere to be found." Casey replied sordidly, darting between all of the TV sets.

"Hey! I got a dial tone!" Theo commented, handing Lily back her cell phone. Lily yanked the phone from his hands and eagerly awaited the sound of Fran's voice.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

Lily bit her lip. Fran typically picked up at least after the third ring.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

The tension was building.

Click. The good kind of click, in fact.

Lily lit up.

"Hello there, this's Fran."

"Fran! Fra-"

"Sorry, I'm out at the moment, so please leave a message."

"Dammit!" Lily growled. "That's it! We're going to her house!" Lily shouted, scaring her male companions. "I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm soaked, and I'm going to kill the both of them when I see them for making me so damn worried! We can hide their bodies and run this place ourselves!" She stomped out, leaving the boys to watch her march off in wonder.

"…We should probably follow her." Theo suggested.

"Great idea." Casey leaped up from the chair and followed Theo out.

Meanwhile…

Fran put on a housecoat after getting into fresh and dry clothes in the bathroom. She gathered up the bundle she had put together on the shelf behind her, and walked back into her room to find RJ sitting up on the bed meditating. "What are you doing up?" She was a little shocked to see him awake, let alone up and meditating.

He opened his eyes and looked over at her, a vacant and lost look on his face that Fran was unaccustomed to. His eyes seemed to peer through her, rather than look at her. "…Oh. You." He muttered softly and smiled weakly.

She wasn't sure quite what was wrong with him, so she approached him slowly, holding out the housecoat and towel out in front of her. "Well, I thought you were asleep, so I was going to try and dry you off a bit and try to keep you from catching pneumonia, but you're up and about, I guess, so you can do it yourself! That is…if you feel up to it. You still don't look very good, and you should lie down again after you meditate. I'm not going to tell you to not meditate, because it's pretty much your favorite activity, but you're…very hurt, and as your…acting doctor, I want you to lie down and recover."

"Don't be nervous." He took the towel and ruffled his hair with it, drying it quickly. "And don't worry about this one; the road to recovery will be very short, I promise." He set the towel down and went to crack his neck. Fran grabbed his hands at the wrists and pulled them away from his head.

"Stop!"

"What?"

"You have a hole in your neck! You shouldn't be doing that."

"But my neck hurts. It'll heal again, don't worry." He gave a wide grin.

"But I will." She replied. "I do worry. This…whatever it is-" She held his heavily blackened arms in front of his face. "it's all over you and it's spreading and I can't do anything about it."

"I know. I'm trying to deal with it myself, but…it's hard. It's hard to talk, hard to breathe, but I'm going to meditate and focus my energies and beat it myself."

"You know what it is?" Fran set his arms down. "What is it?"

"A paralysis toxin. I've managed to weaken it while it spreads, but it's still lethal if it concentrates in the right places. I've been managing to burn it away, even keep it from spreading at times, but now I can't do either without a great deal of meditation."

Fran bit her lip; if she let him stay up, he could fight off the toxin, but the rest of him wouldn't heal as well, but if she made him sleep, the toxin would continue spreading, but the puncture wounds would heal faster.

"…Can you meditate while lying down?"

"I…haven't done so in a while, but I could try if you want me to." He pulled his arms away from her and took a deep breath. He grabbed the housecoat and slowly pulled it on. "Oh, this's a nice robe." He smiled, turned around on the bed, then flopped face first onto the pillow. Fran took the towel and lied it over the back of her desk chair. She then began to walk out to the bathroom when RJ spoke up. "…Hey."

She stopped in the doorway. "Yes?"

"Can I…tell you something?"

She cocked and eyebrow and turned to face him. "…Sure. What is it?"

"Well, I need you to listen to me for a while. Can you do that?"

"Sure." She grabbed her desk chair and pulled it over next to her bed. "What is it?"

"Well…" He was interrupted by a heavy cough, but he continued on without missing a beat. "I want to clear out my conscious, and I feel that I can only tell you. " She smiled warmly. "This one trusts you very much, so don't let him lie about it."

"Okay…" Fran laughed nervously and gave him a funny look, feeling awkward about his wording. "It means a lot to me that you can trust me, though. I mean, this's obviously something important to you."

He looked up at her and smiled softly. "Well, where to start…? At the beginning, I guess. Well, I used to be a teacher at the Pai Zhuq Academy before I was unceremoniously thrown out…"

"What, whoa. You used to teach students? Like…a Master?" She gave him an odd look. "You're not that old, though…are you?"

"No, I'm not. I mean, I'm quite a few years older than you, but I'm still not that old." He looked up at the ceiling, feeling a little awkward. "Anyways, I was…yes. I was younger than Casey when I became a Master. My father was a Master, and I was a young prodigy whom everyone thought highly of. I spent my entire life in the Academy, learning everything I could from every Master and reading and memorizing every instructional tool in the library."

"Now this's a good fairy tale." Fran teased as she spoke in her teasing tone to let him in on the joke.

"Trust me, I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't been there." He laughed, which was followed by a heavy cough. He took a few deep breaths, then continued. "The year I became an active teacher, the Academy brought in the only student I had. I took him in because…well, I was afraid of him." He looked at her with a pained looked on his face. "He was stronger than me, both through his physical build, and because of his animal spirit. Nobody around my age was close to my strength, and yet, this guy who was a couple years younger than me was already better. I was just…intimidated. So, I decided that I would take him on as a student because I wanted to train alongside him to learn his style and find ways to beat him. If I could beat him, I thought, I would have nothing to fear anymore."

"So…did you ever beat him?" Fran asked.

RJ's cheerful and nostalgic demeanor dropped. "No. I became so wrapped up in my little competition…I stopped caring about how hard I was pushing myself."

"Sounds a little like Theo." Fran commented.

"I was impatient and jealous and I just wanted to beat him-"

"…And a little like Casey."

"Yes, I do see my younger self in both the young tiger and the jaguar…" He mused. "But I'm losing focus on my confession. Let me go back." He coughed again, this time a bit rougher.

"Do you want some water?"

"No. Let me finish." Fran silently nodded, then he continued. "I continued searching for ways to overpower him with something he'd never think to use, and I fell upon a lost technique called the Spirit Bind."

"Sounds flashy."

"It allowed anyone with an animal spirit to summon it for a quick and massive boost in abilities."

"So, kinda like morphing with those sunglasses?"

RJ thought for a moment. "Well, kind've, I guess. But when I tried to do the technique…"

"You went all 'flame on', didn't you?"

"I wish it were as simple as that." RJ replied, apparently not as amused by Fran's comment as she had hoped. "I just pushing this one harder and harder, and then I just broke him. The damage I did can't be reversed, the physical, or the emotional. Everyone around felt betrayed by this one's impulsive desire, and feared another sudden strike. A lot of people suffered, and the sentence was unanimously voted; deposure and immediate expulsion to the nearest safe haven."

"Ocean Bluff."

"You catch on quickly." He smiled warmly. "But I'm straying again. I'm trying to get to the point that…today's been my fault. The last few days have been my fault, and…and I'm sorry." He reached up slowly towards her. "I've been doing well for seven years, but…I've gotten tired of sitting around. I can't let a bunch of kids fight for their lives anymore, no matter how much this one protests. You understand, right?"

Fran held his hand in both of hers. "Sometimes I wish I could just run out and help the Rangers, too. But really, we can't. At least not like this, and especially not you like this." She softly ran her top hand over his. "I want you to get better, okay?" RJ nodded. "You just lie there and meditate, and I'll take care of everyone, and everything will be fine."

To Fran's surprise, the front door suddenly slammed shut. RJ's eyes widened and he shot up into a sitting position almost immediately. He coughed heavily, then got up and limped over to Fran's desk, his eyes darting around in search of something. He picked up her dagger-looking letter opener and handed it to her, a terrified look in his eyes. "Please be careful." As she took the blade, he coughed once more before stumbling back into bed. Fran sighed and covered him up, then ruffled his hair lightly before walking out cautiously.

Fran wandered downstairs slowly, avoiding the creaky stairs on the way down to keep from being noticed. A pair of boots and a pair of high heels walked across the hard wood floor, warning Fran that she was outnumbered and likely overpowered.

"Go upstairs." A deep voice called out. Fran gasped, recognizing the voice from earlier. She retreated upstairs and hid in a blind spot. The high heels hit every stair, creaking with every hit, and Fran counted. As soon as she hit the appropriate number of steps, Fran leaped out with the dagger and lunged at Camille.

The pair flew back, tumbling down the flight of stairs and hit the bottom within moments, the dagger having lodged itself in Camille's arm. "Ow!" She shouted, pulling the dagger out. Fran, now disarmed, began trying to strike Camille with her bare hands. Her first punch was unfortunately her last, as Camille seized the balled-up fist of fury and tossed her back, giving her enough time to stand up and grab Fran by the arm and pull her close. "This's my good uniform! You're going to pay for that!"

A low growl distracted Camille, and Dai Shi walked over to the pair. "Let her go, Camille."

"As you wish, Master." She tossed Fran's arm away with enough force to send her stumbling into the wall.

"You said you'd let us go, so what do you want?" Fran asked Dai Shi as she curled up against the wall in a defensive position.

He grinned. "I've come to pay respects to an old friend. I suppose that he's upstairs?"

"You leave him alone! You two have done enough!"

"And what will you do if we don't? Hit us with your little toy dagger again?" Dai Shi growled at Camille, silencing her once more.

"I have a deal to make with you. I don't think you'll refuse."

"A deal? What kind?" Fran gave him an odd look.

From his cloak, Dai Shi revealed an antique glass perfume bottle with a chameleon-motif spraying mechanism. "I have an anti-toxin that will eradicate whatever amount of Camille's toxin is in your master's system. I am willing to give you a one-time opportunity to take this and save his life in the process."

"…There's always a catch." Fran replied.

"You're as wise as Camille says you are." He smiled, trying to be charming. Camille leaned in and muttered, "I said such a thing?" to him, which got her a glare in return. "There is one catch. You must promise me that you will encourage him to settle a match between us once he fully recovers."

"You mean, like a fight?"

"If you wish to call it that, then yes, a fight."

"That's not a fair fight. You have that armor and-"

"He has his animal spirit for protection. It's better than armor when it comes to my touch. His tenacious animal spirit repels all dark energies; I've seen it do so in battle today, and I doubt it would not in battle with me." Dai Shi grinned. "Especially me, as I am the one he pursued so many years ago, the reason he was exiled…he wanted nothing more than to crush me and nearly crippled the entire academy to get the chance to do so…" Fran's eyes widened. "I'm certain that even someone as noble as himself would want a little revenge for losing so much to a lost cause…wouldn't you?"

"No." Fran replied.

"I see. Well, the choice is yours, little human. I'll give you all the time you want…or all the time he has left. Whichever comes first." Fran could hear RJ coughing heavily upstairs. "He's starting to not sound so good."

Fran grimaced, looking ill and worried as she thought hard. It was either she let RJ die, or she forced him into a fight he may not want to have. She knew RJ well enough to know that he despised having to toss himself into verbal disputes, let alone physical altercations. She sighed deeply and took the glass bottle from his hand. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you if he does refuse."

"Camille, go upstairs with her and show her what she must do." Dai Shi commanded.

Camille's eye twitched as she followed the completely terrified Fran upstairs.


	5. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Fifteen minutes later…

Fifteen minutes later…

"What's her address again?" Theo whined. "I can't believe I forgot her address."

"Her house is a blue one, remember?" Theo gave Lily a look, and she returned it. "Just look for 'Lovelli' on the mailbox, alright?"

"Lovelli, Lovelli…" Theo went off ahead of them, his eyes deftly darting around to find what Lily had told him.

"Hey, there's a blue house with little red flowers in the yard. Didn't she mention little red flowers once?" Casey asked.

"You're right." Lily replied, softly touching elbows with him. "Theo! Over here!"

"Lovel-huh? Oh! Coming!" Theo met up with them in front of the blue house. Casey led the group up to the stairs, but suddenly stopped before knocking on the door.

"…Is anybody else getting a really weird vibe right now, or is it just me?" He queried.

"It's just you, so knock already." Theo replied in an annoyed tone.

"What do you mean, Casey?" Lily asked back. "I feel a little odd, too. I mean, I don't know, but I feel a little weird about being here, if that's what you mean. We usually don't just run over to Fran's house on any given day. She may not even be here."

"Well, we'll just leave and go back to the loft. No problem at all." Theo replied, sounding slightly less annoyed. "Alright, so just knock on the door, and-"

"No, I'm just feeling kinda…creeped out. Like something's not right. I think-"

"That's it." Theo knocked on the door and was treated to a scuffling noise from inside, like someone was moving fast away from the door. "Okay, that was weird."

Lily grabbed the door handle and turned it, finding that it was unlocked. "I'm a little worried now, too." Theo added as they walked in.

The house was quiet now; nothing was moving about. "Hello? Fran?" Lily called out.

Suddenly, Fran confidently strode out of a bedroom from the end of the hallway, wearing a long green bathrobe. She gave a smug and mildly irritated look to the trio and rested her arms around her waist. "What're you doing here? Didn't you knock?"

"You didn't hear Theo knock? We're sorry." Lily asked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I don't need you guys to be here right now, so go…man the shop or something." She rudely replied.

"Are you sure everything's alright?" Theo asked, sounding unusually concerned. "You sound very…different."

"That's because she's doing a horrible impression of me." A voice from the stairs called out. Fran walked downstairs, eyeing the imposter. "The least you could've done was wear the same color bathrobe as me." Fran commented with a grin, suggesting that she was joking around.

"Well, I don't care what you are wearing, the purpose was to get them out of the house. Now they're just going to stay." The imposter replied, quickly changing back into Camille. The Rangers took to their fighting stances. "See? They're ready to kick my head in already."

"Guys, guys…relax." Fran stood between the Rangers and Camille and held her hands out to stop them. "She's not here to fight us…well, right now she isn't."

"Agreed." Camille then addressed Fran. "I see you caught on quickly. You're finished faster than expected."

"I'm pretty good when it comes to the doctory stuff, with my mom being a doctor and all."

"Whatever." Camille replied coldly. "I want a pot of green tea with a sugar dish. Do you think you can do that?"

Fran nodded. "Does he want anything?"

"Master Dai Shi has found full sensory enjoyment from the black box in the armoire, and requires nothing more. I merely came out to chase the Rangers away, but you've ruined it, as I said, and now I wish to enjoy an open room with a low table and a pot of green tea." Camille's tone dripped with superiority and attempted intimidation. Fran, however, was too tired to feel scared anymore.

Casey followed Fran into the kitchen while Lily and Theo kept their eyes on Camille, who had taken to pacing next to the coffee table in the living room.

"Fran, what the hell is going on here?" Casey whispered angrily into her ear as she scrambled around the kitchen looking for the tea set.

Fran stopped, and gave Casey a scared look. "Listen, I can't talk right now, okay?"

Casey grabbed her wrist as she tried to push him away. "Why is she here? Why are they there? I'm not letting you go until you tell me."

Fran turned red and looked down. "They were going to let RJ die if I didn't give in. I wasn't gonna let him die…" She started to cry. "I've had enough…" She started to fall and Casey sat her down at the small kitchen table.

"I'll get Camille her tea, then I'm gonna come back and you can talk to me and let it all out, okay?"

Fran worried; did RJ really want her talking to them about the whole situation. Wouldn't he have told her to go to the loft if he didn't mind letting them know, or was it his pride? She couldn't answer that question fully, but she respected what she thought to be true.

"I don't wanna talk. I just want to be alone."

"Alright. I understand." Casey replied as he began boiling the water in the teapot.

Fran walked upstairs and sat down at her desk chair, letting herself cry and she removed her glasses and set them aside. "I can't do this anymore…" She muttered through sobs as she laid her head down on her arms in front of her. For almost a minute, all she could hear were the cries of release emanating out of her, and she quickly felt better about everything.

"Hey…" RJ's weak voice called out to her from the bed. She wiped her eyes and looked over at him. Already, the toxin was retreating from his face and arms, leaving not a trace of malice behind in its wake. RJ sat up slowly, still clinging to the pillow he had been attached to while he was resting, looking well-rested yet still distant like before.

"I don't want to talk." Fran replied, sniffling. "I tossed your pants in the dryer, and they'll be dry soon. I'll go get them when they're done."

"No, you should rest. You look really tired." He replied, patting the side of the bed next to him. She gave him a look. "Don't worry, I won't bite. Besides, it's your bed."

Fran thought it over, then sighed. "Sure…" She sauntered over to the bed and laid down on top of the comforter.

"See? Don't you feel better already?" RJ replied, lying the pillow in his arms under her head. "Now, I'm going to just lie here and rest, and you go to sleep." He smiled warmly as he lied back on the bed and got comfortable. He sighed contently and rolled onto his side, his arm resting across Fran's stomach. Fran felt a moment of awkwardness and tried to push his arm off, but it stiffened up and refused to budge under her push.

She sighed and got as comfortable as she could. "Am I bothering you?" RJ muttered sleepily.

"No…I'm just not used to being used as an armrest." She nervously replied.

"Oh. Well, it's either I latch onto a pillow, or I latch onto you. Force of habit."

"Well, if that's how it goes…" Fran grinned and laid her arms over his.

Downstairs, Casey brought in Camille's tea while Lily and Theo stood over her, waiting for her to answer them.

"Listen, I don't quite understand why Dai Shi is saving your bumbling boss's life. I know that he used to collaborate with Dai Shi's host many years ago, and that he is doing this out of respect. I don't understand quite why he's chosen to do so, but I suppose that it's out of…respect of this old collaboration."

"I am doing this out of respect for my old master. Nothing more." Dai Shi called out as he walked into the room. Camille got up and bowed to him.

"RJ was your master?" Lily asked, sounding shocked.

"The best master in the Pai Zhuq order. It's a shame that many others did not feel that way." Dai Shi replied.

"What a small world, huh?" Casey said with a hint of venom in his tone.

"Indeed." Dai Shi replied. "Now, I have extended a temporary olive branch in his honor. Don't force me to take it back."

"Well, in honor of this…temporary peace…how about I make everyone something to eat?" Lily offered.

"No!" Casey and Theo shouted, looking scared. She looked at them, making them nervous. "We should just order out instead of cooking. What would Fran say if we just randomly started yanking foods out of cabinets?" Casey tried to rationalize.

"…You've got a point." Lily nodded. She then turned to Camille and Dai Shi. "Do you two like Chinese take out? We passed a shop about five blocks down."

"Well, I've always been a little partial to the orange chicken." Camille replied. "Master?"

"As long as it's warm and not smothered in shrimp…"

"Alright, everybody chip in, and I'll go get the food." Lily smiled.

The rest of the night was relatively silent. Fran and RJ stayed upstairs, lost in a deep and well-earned sleep, while the Rangers, Dai Shi, and Camille conversed about the situation at hand. The Rangers felt slightly betrayed that their leader would hide such a dark and dangerous secret from them, and they tried to make sense of it. This RJ that Dai Shi told them about was nothing like the RJ they knew, but then again, even the RJ they knew hadn't been himself lately. Casting their doubts aside, they begrudgingly held themselves back, for RJ's sake.

Dai Shi and Camille took up residence in the master bedroom, and the Rangers found sleeping spots around the living room. Dai Shi found himself sleeping very little during the night, and he sleepily wandered around the house after a short sunrise meditation.

The Rangers and Camille were suddenly woken up by the sound of yelling and a large crash. The trio watched as RJ crouched on top of Dai Shi at the bottom of the staircase, his hands tightly laced around the evil overlord's throat.

"Get out! Get out of him!" RJ shouted loudly, shaking Dai Shi violently by the throat as his body became enveloped by a faint purple flame. Dai Shi desperately tried to peel RJ's hands away, but failed.

Camille ran up, her eyes widened. "Get off of him!" After he didn't respond, she took an offensive pose. The Rangers ran up to defend their master, but Camille shooed them away. The flames began to burn brighter around RJ, searing Dai Shi and scaring Camille slightly. She then bravely began a quick strike, hitting him in the neck, left shoulder, and lower back in rapid succession with the heels of her hand.

RJ's eyes widened in pain and he let go of Dai Shi's neck, allowing him a chance to breathe and to push RJ off of him. RJ writhed around the floor in pain, and the Rangers ran to his side as Camille helped Dai Shi off the floor.

"Forgive me, Dai Shi." She bowed in a humbling manner. "I couldn't think of a better option."

"No…your method was necessary this time." Dai Shi reassured her. He softly sat his hand on her shoulder for moral support as he caught his breath, then left for the master bedroom.

"RJ! Are you okay?" Lily asked him, grabbing his hand.

"Here, let's try to get him off his back." Theo commented, softly supporting RJ's neck. "Ready?" Casey grabbed RJ's other hand, and the trio sat him up.

RJ looked at the three of them and winced. He brushed them off roughly, knocking them back. "I'm disappointed in you three. I'm not surprised that my attendant couldn't fight them off, but you three? My own students? You can't even pick off that one?" He scolded, pointing at Camille.

"They're not fighting us!" The trio shouted, stunning the bathrobed master.

"What?"

"They're here to make sure you didn't die yesterday." Lily replied.

"They called a truce until you got healed up." Theo added.

"Looks like we'll be kicking them to the curb by lunch time, huh?" Casey joked.

"Not really…" RJ replied. His hands clenched into fists as he looked over at Camille. She gave him a wary look back, and flinched as he shot up. He winced a little out of pain, then sauntered down to the laundry room.

RJ walked up several minutes later in his own jeans and a loose dress shirt which obviously wasn't his. He walked into the living room and stopped in front of Camille, Casey, Theo, and Lily, who were watching a talk show on TV. They all looked up at him, giving him an array of emotions, ranging from Camille's worried stare and Casey's slightly scared look to Lily's concerned head tilt and Theo's attentive gaze.

RJ attempted to give a cool and confident gaze to mask his pain and anger, and it contorted his face into a wide smile. "I have decided to make breakfast. Everyone to the table. Now." His smile then dropped, and a more serious and focused look claimed his visage as he marched out into the kitchen.

The quartet walked out to the wide open space occupied by both the kitchen and the dining room to find Dai Shi walking in at the same time as them. Casey looked over at RJ and caught his attention. "Is it alright if I go train before breakfast?"

"That should be fine. In fact, I encourage it. Back yard's big enough, I think…" RJ looked out one of the windows and smiled softly. "Yeah, that's a good size, and it's fenced in. Don't break anything."

Casey smiled back and walked outside, making no eye contact with Dai Shi as he passed him by.

"So," RJ began rifling through fruit bowls and cabinets, collecting things as he went. "how do banana pancakes sound to everyone?"

Not a squeak of objection came from the four remaining people, and RJ took it as a unanimous 'sure'. He turned on the radio and began mixing up the batter to the beat of the song playing.

Dai Shi took the seat closest to where he stopped walking, which happened to be the short end of the table sitting in front of the windows. Camille immediately took the seat to his left, and Lily took the seat across from Camille. Theo then reacted by taking the seat next to Lily, and then four then all sat down.

"So…is this your morning routine still?" Dai Shi asked RJ as RJ took a skillet down from the hanging pan holder. He didn't get a response, which caused Dai Shi to look over at Camille in a strange manner.

"Do you want me to get him to talk? I don't think I'll do much better…" She softly replied to him.

"Hey RJ, it's really nice for you to be making us all breakfast like this." Lily chirped up, hoping to help Dai Shi and Camille out.

"It's only preoccupying me and delaying the inevitable." RJ replied in a monotone.

Lily elbowed Theo, who quickly began ad-libbing as well. "Well, I mean, you usually don't go all out with pancakes. I haven't had pancakes that weren't frozen in forever."

"Don't get used to it. The longer my hands are too busy to do anything else, the better." He poured the batter down for the first pancake and grabbed a pair of chopsticks to work with. "This one craves banana pancakes, and the recipe hasn't been used in ages. If I forget it, then my secret recipe's lost. Even little things shouldn't be left to be lost." He flipped the pancake over and began humming along softly to the music on the radio.

Dai Shi softly laughed. "You slip too much in your speech. I'm surprised you managed to emulate your host so well for so long."

RJ stopped humming and looked up, grinning madly.

"I've only seen a wolf grin before a kill."

RJ's grin swiftly dropped. "I could give you one if you want." He then went back to cooking.

Fran walked down into the dining room in a pair of lounge pants, slippers, and a teeshirt, rubbing her eyes as she slowly woke up. She took the seat next to Camille as RJ looked up. "Other seat." He muttered, and Fran did so in a confused manner.

Dai Shi looked around the table and smiled. "You always had a penchant for silent order with seating arrangements."

"Shut up." RJ demanded, surprising the quintet. "You are not my student, so stop using him to speak with me."

"Dai Shi himself may not be acquaintances with you, but-"

"You keep out of this, chameleon. I didn't ask for your advice." Camille was taken aback by his comment. "So go make yourself useful and blend into a wall or something."

"C'mon, RJ! She's just trying to be nice!" Lily insisted.

RJ fell silent but still looked visibly enraged as he continued cooking, and both Fran and Lily jumped up. "We'll make breakfast for you!" Fran commented.

"You can go relax and wait for breakfast." Lily added.

"You can even go meditate!"

"Yeah! See? We'll take over." The two began to walk over, but met his deathly gaze and stopped.

"I'm fine. Go sit down." His voice wavered, sounding almost like his normal tone. The two quickly scurried back to their chairs, lest they lose this sudden flash of their RJ to the unpleasant one that had replaced him.

"He's got you all on leashes, like a good leader should. Good to see some things never change."

"I only kept Jarrod on a leash because I knew he was more ruthless than I was." RJ replied as he finished making the second pancake. He was moving faster now that a more upbeat song was playing. "I have to say, that's quite the accomplishment."

"Does that make him better than you?"

RJ winced and thought before responding. "It doesn't make him any better or any worse in the long run, it just means that he'll do whatever he can to succeed. One of my more ass backwards lessons, I can attest. Look how far it got me." He hung his head low as he finished off the third pancake. "About halfway done." He commented. "Someone get Casey."

Theo got up and stuck his head out the nearest window, where he spotted Casey meditating in the middle of the back yard. "Casey! Breakfast's almost ready!"

"Not hungry." Casey replied. "Give my food to Fran or whoever else wants it."

"Alright, if you say so." Theo replied, somewhat understanding the tiger's motives.

Theo poked his head back in and closed the window. "He says he's not that hungry."

RJ's gave a grin. "Well then, no loss."

RJ finished making the pancakes, then organized them on plates with a hunk of butter and a soft drizzle of maple syrup on each before setting them on the table. He took his seat between Camille and Fran and dug into his pancake.

Camille looked over at RJ, trying to look under his shirt. RJ noticed and looked back at her. "What?"

"Your…" She slowly reached up towards her own left shoulder, and RJ understood. He pulled his collar back, revealing that the toxin had yet to retreat from the side of his neck and his shoulder. Camille gasped, and the Rangers were physically taken aback by the sight. "How are you still moving your arm?"

"Lots of force." He replied, covering it back up.

"What is that?" Theo asked.

"Paralysis toxin. Not a big deal." RJ replied.

"Yes it is!" Lily protested.

"Well, it's not doing what it should be doing, now is it?" RJ smirked. "Besides, the anti-toxin is working like a charm. I should be fine with that by tomorrow. Now, these stab wounds…" He laughed softly.

"You should really be in bed, resting." Lily advised. "I mean, I know you're not going to listen to just me-"

"Or just me." Fran added.

"Well, you need to lie down and heal, RJ." Lily sighed and took a bite of her pancake. "As your student, I'm concerned for my master's well-being."

RJ smiled. "Your concern is well-noted, young cheetah. In fact, everyone's concern is well-noted. But I will endure and recover."

"The 'Iron Wolf' is not one for resting." Dai Shi joked.

"No, I'm not." RJ replied.

"It's good to see everyone's in a fairly good mood." Fran replied. "Well, given our circumstances."

"If I've learned anything in the last seven years, it's that if something can't be helped, you should just go with it instead of fighting it every step of the way." He finished off his pancake and stood up. "Sometimes, practicing what you preach takes a while. Now, excuse me." He grabbed his plate and put it in the sink before walking outside.

RJ looked on as Casey practiced with his nunchucks. After a few minutes, Casey noticed his audience and stopped. "Hey, RJ." He called out, walking over to him. RJ began approaching him as well, walking out genially as if to pat him on the shoulder. Dai Shi turned around in his chair and grinned, drawing attention to himself.

"You've been training well out here," RJ smiled widely. "but I think you're missing something."

"I am?" Casey asked, getting close to RJ. Without warning, RJ swung around behind Casey and planted his left foot against the side of Casey's left foot. By the time Casey finally realized that RJ was behind him, RJ smacked him in the middle of his back and sent him flying forwards, then followed up by spinning around on the ball of his left foot and smacking Casey with his left forearm, now sending Casey stumbling back.

The Rangers and Fran saw the event happening and leapt from their chairs, but Dai Shi and Camille kept them inside.

RJ shifted his weight to his right foot and stuck his left foot out a bit, tripping Casey up and sending him falling backwards. Casey hardly even had time to flinch as RJ then shifted his weight back to his left foot and began to kneel, his left palm aiming directly for Casey's face. Casey winced and prepared for impact, but it never came. He opened one eye cautiously and could practically read the lines on RJ's palm, which sat a mere inch above his face.

"You're missing breakfast." RJ replied, grinning madly. "Maybe you shouldn't miss it; it's a pretty important meal, ya know."

Dai Shi grinned. "I was anticipating that." He looked at the floor. "He was never one to tolerate anyone skipping out on a meal."

The Rangers and Fran looked at RJ in awe as he walked in with a slight limp on his right side. "Spun a little too fast…gonna go relax." He replied, setting his hand over his hip wound. Camille got up as Dai Shi gave her a look and she helped the limping master to the living room couch while Lily, Fran, and Theo ran out to help Casey.

Camille sat him down on the couch, and he gave her a look. "Recliner."

"Huh?" He nodded his head over towards the reclining chair, and she got his point. She helped him over to the reclining chair, and he popped it into a reclining mode and lied back, closing his eyes.

"Go get me an icepack for my hip." He ordered. Camille winced and walked into the kitchen. She looked around the kitchen and saw Casey sitting in a dining room chair, nearly buried in ice packs as he groaned.

"How pathetic." Camille commented. "Do you have any of those to spare?"

Casey offered one of the ones on his head, and Camille cautiously took the sweat-covered pack and wiped it off on her loincloth before presenting it begrudgingly to RJ moments later.

"Would it kill you to give a little service with a smile?" RJ asked as he positioned the icepack over his injured hip.

"For you? Yes." Camille snarked.

The ranger trio and Fran walked out slowly, lying Casey on the couch, while Camille and Dai Shi sat on the sides of the recliner. RJ looked at both of them in a wondering manner. "And you two are next to me…why?"

"We refuse to be around them when we don't have to be." Camille replied.

"We're not here to ensure their well-being." Dai Shi added.

"I appreciate your…need to ensure my well-being, but I'm recovering just fine. Just need to lie down and focus my energy." He lied back, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath as a faint violet flame crawled across his body. The flame flickered out at Dai Shi and Camille, which made them lean away from him. "Wake me up for dinner." RJ muttered.

Once everyone settled in, Lily approached Dai Shi slowly. "…Hi."

"What do you want?" Camille snipped.

Lily stood in front of the chair. "Well I…I know that you two are here because of something that involved Jarrod in the academy, so I wanted to try and…talk to you Dai Shi, like him and I once did when we were students together. Do you think we could for a few minutes?"

"I see. I have a few minutes to spare. Come." Dai Shi stood up, and Lily followed him out into the yard.

"Make it quick." He spat out as he closed the door behind them once they reached the back yard.

"Well first off, I miss us all being like this."

Dai Shi laughed. "What? Being neutral with each other? I don't miss it at all."

"Can't say I'm not surprised." Lily huffed.

Dai Shi exhaled forcefully. "Is that all you want to talk about, because I don't want to listen to you prattle on about meaningless things like that."

"No. I also had a question about something you said earlier over breakfast."

"Don't take long."

"You called RJ…the 'Iron Wolf'. What does that mean?"

Dai Shi grinned and tried not to laugh. "You've never heard of the 'Iron Wolf' before?" He looked away. "They apparently erased him from the collective memories of everyone when he was deposed…" Dai Shi sighed. "My master's moniker was the 'Iron Wolf' when he was there. It was given to him, he had told me, by his fellow students while he ascended ranks with them."

"Right. Every student with a strong animal spirit gets one, like you and I. But why 'Iron Wolf'? It's a very…unique moniker. Typically we just get named after our animal spirit and its aura color."

"He told me it was because his will to succeed was as strong as iron, and that through his hard work and constant training, his attacks became so strong that people likened them to being struck with a wrought iron rod. Iron body, iron will, iron wolf. Make sense?"

"It does." Lily nodded. "It's a shame, though…to have to forget someone like that. To erase them."

"Soon no one will remember the Black Lion either." Dai Shi replied. Lily gave a sad look. "Why does that bother you?"

"Because…good or bad, nobody deserves to be forgotten." Lily replied.

"Hmph…" Dai Shi looked up at the sky in boredom. "Are you done yet?"

"I guess."

"Then I shall see you inside. I wish to spar with you and the blue one later."

"Right." Lily walked in feeling incredibly uncomfortable, and Dai Shi did little more than return to his spot beside the recliner.

Several hours later…

"RJ, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" Casey asked from the kitchen table as RJ continued making dinner.

"Listen, if you're not feeling so clean, perhaps you should be more careful with who you're with. I don't need to hear the details."

Casey blushed. "That's not what I was going to ask…but I'll keep that in mind."

RJ grinned at his successful attempt to make Casey squirm. "What is it?"

"Well…I wanted to ask about you and Jarrod…"

"Oh. Well, it's not what you think. We were friends because we were kindred spirits, but it's not anything odd; I mean, I was his teacher way back when, and he was a very studious…student."

"…Okay…" Casey gave a perturbed look to the table as he continued going over shift schedules for the group.

Meanwhile, Camille snuck up to Fran's room to find the usually energetic young woman bent over a notebook and calculator, surrounded by perfectly tri-folded papers. She softly walked up to see that they were bills, and obviously not her own.

"What do you need, Camille? I'd help but I'm busy." Fran replied without looking up. She punched in a few numbers as Camille dropped out of camouflage.

"You've got one hell of a sixth sense if you knew I was here." Camille commented.

"No, you just didn't bother to avoid stepping on the creaky steps on the way up." Fran replied. "So, what do you want? Is RJ done making dinner?"

"No, I merely came up here to meditate."

"In here? Why?"

"There's a calming atmosphere in here. I find it very useful in meditating."

"Well then, don't let me stop you from meditating. Meditate away."

Camille sat up against the bed and camouflaged herself while meditating, but after a few minutes of Fran continuing to do her paperwork with all the tapping and scraping, Camille dropped out of camouflage and flashed her a dirty look. "Need you be so noisy?"

"It has to be done before the end of the month, so I'm going a little fast. Sorry."

Camille scowled and grabbed one of the papers, looking it over. "I don't suppose that you're Randall Finn?" Camille joked.

"I'm book keeping for JKP. I gotta do a lot to earn my boost in pay, and I just happen to be good with numbers. I make sure all the shop's money is all in order…but I find myself buying more and more red pens every week." Fran sighed.

Camille smiled. "So you're his retainer in every sense of the word…you're very loyal to him, I see."

"Well, he's my boss. Why wouldn't I be? I mean, if you can't trust your employees to stand behind you, even in these sorts of situations, then who can you trust? Well, I mean, besides your friends. Your friends always stand behind you in these…sorts…of situations, and that's why I'm here for RJ too. He's my friend as much as he's my boss."

Camille laughed briefly. "Does he know of your sentiment?"

"What do you mean?"

"Does he know that you consider him to be your…friend?"

"Of course. He's told me that he thinks the same of me too. I wouldn't consider him a friend if I knew he didn't at least seem to feel that way towards me." Fran gave her a look. "That's an odd question for you to ask."

Camille looked away. The pang of jealousy burned in her chest again. What was this little human doing that she wasn't? Complete loyalty, more than partial trust in her competence…she had the same things, but why, why did this human have a closer bond to their leader than she did to her own?

"How do you get his…approval of this rather uncouth union?"

"Union? Do you think we're…oh geeze, you too?" Fran laughed. "Please…" She rolled her eyes, then looked away while he face turned a soft shade of red. "If you're not going to meditate in here, could you please leave?"

Camille got up and put the bill back down, then walked towards the door. She turned around and looked back, quickly looking her up and down then giving her a commanding look. "You know…Fran, is it? If you ever find these Rangers to be too much, I could put in a good word for you with Dai Shi. You're very useful."

"Don't hold your breath." Fran replied, looking down. Camille walked out and sighed. She had hoped that she found a moment to kick the chair out from underneath the Rangers' leader, but alas. Now Fran probably thought she actually valued her. Just a minor setback, she supposed.

Back in the kitchen, Dai Shi strode in and immediately looked over RJ's shoulder to inspect the cooking. "What is that?"

"It's what you're eating." RJ stiffly replied.

"Since when did you become my father?"

"Since you became my student. I never formally got rid of you, remember?" Dai Shi huffed and walked towards the dining room table. "If you must know, it's lamb stew." Dai Shi's eyes seemed to light up, but then he spotted Camille.

"Please teach Camille how to make it. She's dreadful at it." Dai Shi formally asked RJ.

"Teach the chameleon? I don't take reptiles on as students." RJ replied.

"Well, I don't want to be your student, either." Camille sarcastically shot back.

RJ grinned. "Well, in that case…after dinner, we're going to have a little sparring match. Me and you, no holds barred. I don't care how hard you hit me, and I will certainly not hold back. If you win, I'll take you as my student."

Casey stood up. "You're going to make yourself worse!"

"That's not for you to worry about, cub." RJ snipped at him. "I will fight when I want."

"Who's fighting?" Lily asked as she walked into the dining room. Her question fell on deaf ears.

"Well, I anticipate a good match from you. Hopefully I didn't put too many holes in you to stop you from giving me a good fight." Camille laughed.

"It doesn't matter. I'll give you a good fight if it kills me." Lily and Casey flashed him looks of horror. "…What?" He looked at them both, and a racing doubt shook him and was left burning inside of him. If his students were terrified of his own decision, was it really the right one? Why was he even second-guessing himself, anyways? Was it really him who was doing it, or rather the thoughts of a suppressed conscience…? A migraine quickly emanated from his rather manic train of thought, and he winced. "You, cub, get me some aspirin." He ordered Casey as he softly reached up and rubbed his temples in an attempt to soften the tension. He had been trying to will away the physical pain, but this was the first time it had failed him thus far. Something was terribly wrong, but he refused to back down from anything.

Casey looked at him strangely. "I thought you hat-"

"Don't. Question me. Just. Get me. The aspirin." He gruffly spat out. Casey jumped from his chair, fearing another beat down, and made his way to the bathroom.

"Having…troubles with your host?" Dai Shi asked, grinning with glee. "I could teach you a few tricks for dealing with such nuisances."

"My will is the only thing I need. I will away anything unneeded; sleep, food, poison, extraneous thoughts…it's a shame I can't entirely be like that. New age hippie prattle is meaningless, and I wish I could make this one be more straightforward with things, but I've been weakened by time and that leash from that blind menace…"

"Master Swoop?" Lily asked as Theo walked in. She could've sworn that RJ's response to her was a growl.

"Dinner smells great." Theo replied, walking in cheerfully.

"Outta my way!" Casey shouted at Theo as he ran in with the Excedrin and the Advil, setting them both in front of RJ. He took the green bottle and downed a pill swiftly without water. Theo stared at him in awe. "How'd you…"

"You're not RJ at all, are you?" Lily asked, sounding scared. RJ grinned widely. "You're the 'Iron Wolf', aren't you? You're his animal spirit, using him like a giant puppet while he's helpless to resist you."

"What a wise little cheetah you are! No, I am not RJ. RJ is too weak to be doing things himself, so I am carrying him along. If you don't like it, go away for a few days." He stirred the stew a bit, then looked over at her.

"You think I'm a horrible monster, don't you? You make me out to be one, at least." He gave a short, pained laugh as he looked down. "I may be strict, and I may be brutal, but I certainly don't do it because I'm a monster. I do it because you're my pack, and I would have nobody to blame but myself if the cubs that were sent to me were hurt because I didn't teach them proper tactics."

"You beat on Casey for skipping out on breakfast!" Theo countered.

"Well, he won't do it again, will he?" RJ replied. "Breakfast is the first meal of one's day, and what one has or doesn't have affects them greatly throughout the day." RJ grabbed the pepper mill and seasoned the stew. "That reminds me. Dai Shi, on behalf of RJ, I accept your challenge to the fight taking effect immediately after I fully recover." He grinned widely.

"Your little human friend assured me that a pacifist like yourself would surely disagree with that." He grinned, letting RJ in on the joke.

RJ's right hand clamped against the stove's side as he looked down, apparently not in the mood for joking. "I've been waiting seven years to fight you, Dai Shi. I've been waiting to pay you back for everything, even if it was my fault. I've been waiting for my chance to tear you to pieces so I can redeem my losses I suffered trying to kill you before. I want nothing more than to destroy you…"

"Even if you had to kill Jarrod?"

RJ's breathing sped up a bit as he went to answer. Again, the burning pain in his chest. His conscience couldn't get in his way here! It was starting to annoy him now. He forced it back up against the wall before the pain he was suppressing came to cripple him. "Jarrod would understand that it was for the best. He'd willingly give himself up to save us; that's just the person he's always been. We would do that all the time for each other, no matter how much of a rivalry we had at the moment. I'd be a hypocrite, and so would he, if we didn't both do everything we could to destroy such a vile thing like you."

"So eloquent. I never thought you spoke in such a…flowery manner."

"I blame my host, I really do. But it sounds rather intelligent, even if neither of us are really Rhodes scholars." RJ laughed softly. "Now, are you all hungry or not? Dinner's ready."

"I'll go get Fran…" Lily said, abruptly shooting up from her seat, visibly perturbed by what she was witnessing.

The dinner seemed to go by fast, as everyone seemed excited by what was to happen, with the exception of Fran, who had no clue. Lily, Theo, and Dai Shi finished quickly, then went out to spar while Camille and RJ sat the entire time silently and slowly, making sure to properly digest their meals.

"This's actually decent." Camille finally broke the ice.

"I haven't used this recipe since I was a master at the academy. Lamb's surprisingly expensive here in Ocean Bluff, so I've been trying to not use it on purpose."

"Lamb's expensive here?" Casey asked as he migrated over to the table, sitting next to Fran. "I wonder why."

"I've seen places around here where the sheep outnumber the people while out on scouting missions. I wonder why they're so expensive as well."

"Well, there's a huge demand for it in our sister town of San Angeles, so the farmers have driven the price up to make big profits. That, and the feed that the farmers have been using lately is kind've expensive to make and/or import from New Zealand." The three of them looked at Fran, making her turn red in embarrassment. "It was on the news last week. The prices are starting to drop now that all the people from San Angeles who've moved here in the last year have started demanding it."

"Maybe I'll get to make this more often, then." RJ happily beamed.

"Sweet." Casey replied.

"So the little tiger likes my food…how encouraging." RJ smiled softly. "I'll keep that in mind. Maybe he should use the quality of my meals as a motivator to not miss any of them." He gave a look suggesting that he was merely yanking Casey's chain, which made the tiger cub grin.

Shortly after dinner, RJ and Camille were in the back yard, warming up. "You ready, Camille?" RJ asked politely as he cracked his neck, much to Fran's dismay.

"Ready whenever you are." Camille replied, getting into a defensive stance.

Before she was completely prepared, RJ leapt into action, arm outstretched as he swung a rough right hook at her. She saw through his move and once he was close enough, she reached out and seized his wrist and forearm and, using his momentum against him, turned and flung him halfway across the yard.

She brushed her hands off, then walked over to him as he struggled to get back up. She stood over him and prepared to drop her heel down on his spine, but he sensed her presence and rolled away just as she stamped down. He quickly sprang up to his feet and seized her right arm tightly while giving a little tug, pulling her off her feet. He then spun the two of them around twice before letting go and sending her flying towards the fence.

RJ waited for her to hit the ground before he began to run out towards her, as she got up, he approached her and pinned her against the back fence while putting her in a headlock. He then began slamming his knee into her side to weaken her. She let out little whimpers before finally getting tired of the abuse and shot her tongue out and wrapped it around his throat. He let go of her head and proceeded to pull the vicegripped muscle away from him, which was exactly what she wanted.

She used her tongue like a high-tension wire, she lifted him off his feet and flung him into the air, letting go of him as soon as he was nearly thirty feet off the ground and letting him spiral into the air before landing face-down on the field.

After a long second, RJ got to his feet and lunged at her, preparing a rough and reinforced elbow to the temple. Once he came within range, his body suddenly froze mid-strike. His eyes widened as he realized the sudden stop, and he began to force his body to move, only to find that he couldn't move a centimeter. Several more attempts to charge finished the same way, and Camille lost her patience and knocked him back on his rear.

RJ got to his feet and stared at his hands. "This's the worst possible time to decide to be a forceful pacifist…" He softly scolded as Camille summoned her sais and charged. "Please move…" He softly begged his legs, which were as inflexible as steel to his will. "Stop trying to exert yourself…"

She spun her sai and thrusted. "She's going to kill you!" The Iron Wolf had finally lost his patience and screamed at his uncooperative host's body. Suddenly, a jolt shot through him in response, giving him the chance to move his arms that he took full advantage of.

He seized Camille's wrist with the knife of his hand and pinched the nerve connected to her thumb, instantly making her drop her sai as her entire hand went limp. He then swiftly pushed her arm upwards, and an audible snap rang through the air.

Even Dai Shi looked affected by Camille's scream of agony as RJ let go of her now broken wrist. She looked at him in fear as she took steps back and cradled both her wrist and hand with her other arm. The violet flames began manifesting across RJ's body once more, and it triggered a strange instinct within Lily. She stood up from her place on the lawn as RJ began to move towards Camille, and the boys followed suit, not knowing whether to help her or stop her.

Lily sprinted across the lawn as RJ sped up to once again attempt to bash Camille's temple with his elbow. Lily leapt into the air and wrapped her arms around his neck, taking him slightly off balance. Following suit, Theo dove at the ground at RJ's feet and grabbed RJ's ankles, and Casey dove for RJ's mid-section, knocking their master forwards and down to the ground.

"Please. Please stop. You've beaten her." The flames self-extinguished as RJ's body locked up to Lily's plea. He wanted to scream and kick them away, but he couldn't even grip the blades of grass between his fingers. A sense of guilt filled the usually guiltless spirit, and suddenly he realized the exact nature of his problems. He sighed deeply and reconciled, then managed to muster up the will to slam his hand against the ground twice in rapid succession.

"I forfeit." He squeaked out.

The trio slowly got up and helped RJ to his feet as his body finally relaxed. "Brave cheetah, show the equally brave chameleon a little gratitude, and wrap up her wrist. You two…well, help her, I guess." He softly ordered before limping back to the house, feeling a massive hole in his ego.

Casey and Theo walked out to the living room as Lily and Fran tended to Camille, with Dai Shi standing close watch to ensure that they properly treated her. They found RJ sitting in front of the sliding glass doors, his pair of necklaces sitting in front of him.

"You know," RJ began to say before they had a chance to begin their own speech. He picked up the necklace with the ring looped in it and continued. "this charm necklace here was a gift from Master Swoop via Master Mao…it was a sort of parting gift at the time, something he thought would help RJ out with dealing with me. It's a focusing charm, and it helps focus his energies to suppress me, to keep events like this from happening. To keep me from taking over and doing what I want with his body." He smiled and set it down. "I don't think he needs it anymore."

"We never knew that." Casey replied. "Why didn't you…or RJ…just tell us?"

"Living a life of self-reliance means you never ask for help and you never accept it. Also stubbornness, and a bit of pride. Not much of that, though. I'm the one with all the self-pride now, and even I'm not feeling it anymore after that fight." He sighed. "He should be proud of himself, though. He's accomplished something not even his dear Master Swoop believed was possible; he crushed me on my own turf, he locked me out of control completely, even if it was temporary. I'm sure even his father would be proud of him. Ha, that'd be the day…" He looked down, turning red. "That's my fault, too. I've done a lot to make his life difficult by always exerting my will upon him…that's why he's in this mess today. I guess…I guess maybe today is the day I realize that he doesn't need me to push him anymore."

Casey and Theo sat down as Lily and Fran walked in. "It's a bittersweet feeling…I'm so proud to know that he's become so strong and yet, I know it's probably the last time I'll be able to do this sort of thing. I guess it's for the best; I'm not exactly domesticated, and he's managed to figure it out a bit on his own." RJ sighed deeply, then smiled. "I know that he'll protect you all on his own just fine now, and that's all that matters to me."

"Hey um…I have a question." Fran asked, raising her hand softly.

"Yes?"

"If RJ's so strong…then how come you managed to beat him in the first place?"

He smiled. "The question, I suppose, is less 'how' and more 'why'. I think he secretly wants to help you cubs out, but don't tell anyone…well, mostly him." He looked back and smiled. "Maybe he feels a little useless and slipped a little on purpose. Maybe he felt a little sympathy for me deep down inside, because he knew that I only wanted to help. Maybe he was bored and wanted something to do. Only he knows. But he's been letting me slip out slightly for weeks, and then he just suddenly lets his guard down completely? I can't help but feel that it's on purpose." The group nodded in understanding.

"So, are we still going to fight when your host is well?" Dai Shi asked as he walked in with Camille.

"Of course, but keep her off the recliner. That's mine." He stood up with the necklaces in hand and sat down in the recliner. "Now, one last thing."

He reclined the chair and grinned. "Okay my dear pack, I've decided that perhaps I should give in to RJ's will and just rest until he's a hundred and ten percent. I would like a pillow and a blanket…no wait, two pillows. One of them from the bed, and one of those fluffy ones off the couch."

Fran, Lily, and Dai Shi took little effort to get together what he wanted. He wrapped his arms around the couch pillow and sighed happily as Lily and Fran brought down a pillow and the comforter from Fran's bed. "Now…I'm going to rest for as long as I need to. The next time I wake up, it'll be RJ and not me, so don't be surprised if I seem a tad bit confused, alright?" The group seemed to understand him. "Okay, good. And Dai Shi? Please hold him to my promise."

"No need to ask. I would do it without you asking." He grinned widely.

"Good." RJ sighed deeply. "Alright, one very very last thing; I need a pair of small hands to tie these back around my neck. RJ will certainly be in a better mood if he wakes up to find they're back on his neck." Lily reached out and took them from RJ, promptly tying them both without hesitation. "Thank you again, brave cheetah. But alas, there's been enough stalling out of me. You've been a great group, and don't you forget it." He smiled and closed his eyes, and within moments his body seemed to sink into the chair as he fell into a deep sleep.


	6. Obsolete Your Voices Are

The next few days were rather silent and were met with only brief moments of consciousness from RJ, who woke up only for a glass of water

The next few days were rather silent and were met with only brief moments of consciousness from RJ, who woke up only for a glass of water.

By the end of the week, Fran spotted RJ stirring to wake up, and she dashed out to the kitchen. Camille and Casey looked up at her. "Guys! He's waking up!" She whispered as softly as she could. Camille's eyes widened and she camouflaged herself in the seat.

Fran then stuck her head outside and shouted out to Dai Shi, Lily, and Theo, who were sparring. "Hey, RJ's waking up!" Dai Shi let go of Theo's neck, letting the jaguar drop to the ground as Dai Shi picked his foot off of Lily's back. Lily brushed herself off and walked inside, and Theo popped his collar to hide any possible choke marks while Dai Shi walked in and hid in a room adjacent to the dining room.

RJ's eyes fluttered open as he slowly woke up. He took in his surroundings, which to him were extremely foreign. Somebody's living room, no doubt. But whose? Not his. Couldn't be any of his students'.

…Fran's. At least he hoped.

He shifted his shoulders, finding that not only them, but his entire body was once again fully mobile. He sighed deeply in relief, then slowly reached up to his neck. One, two, both were there. Perfect.

Had this all been an exhaustion-induced nightmare, somehow? Nothing seemed to be wrong at all. He looked at his watch and nearly jumped out of the chair.

Four days, ten hours, fifty-seven minutes, give or take a few minutes.

How could he lose so much time? He tapped a finger against his watch, making sure that it was correct. His heart skipped a beat once he realized that it was. He pulled the chair out of its reclining position and pushed the comforter off of him, tossing the pillow back on the couch.

Casey pushed Fran out of the dining room/kitchen area to where RJ could see her if he were to look down the hallway. Once he spotted her, she sheepishly waved. "Hey you. You're alive." She turned a soft shade of red.

He felt relieved that it was obviously Fran's place. There was nowhere he would've preferred to wake up, even more than at the loft for the sake of his students. He saw that the house looked completely in order, which calmed him even more.

"I'm feeling okay. A little…disoriented, I guess. Never woke up in somebody's living room before without either being sprawled out across the floor or in a pile of at least two peoples' clothes." He laughed off the awkward feeling. "So…how did I end up here?"

"Long story, but you've been here most of the week, just getting better. We've kind've been waiting for you." As if on cue, Casey, Lily, and Theo popped out from behind the doorframe and waved weakly at him. A sudden fear fell over him.

"Are you four okay?" RJ asked with a tone that barely hid his concern.

"Yeah, we're fine. Everybody's fine. You're fine, right?" Casey asked, trying to rush through the conversation.

"Yeah…" RJ walked towards and past them, to the refrigerator. "I'm sorry, but I'm starved. You guys've seen me when my blood sugar's low before. I'm all…unpleasant."

"Well, we won't get in your way if you're hungry!" Fran said nervously.

He grabbed a banana yogurt cup and proceeded to bee-line for the nearest chair, sitting down before the Rangers and Fran could stop him.

Camille screamed out in pain as RJ planted himself down on her lap, where she had been resting her broken wrist. He jumped up and started to take a fighting position, but the Rangers ran out between them.

"Foolish human! I think he broke it again!" Camille whimpered. Dai Shi walked out and RJ's eyes opened widely for a split second before he smiled widely, perfectly hiding his terror.

"Well, don't we just have a full house here! If someone'd said something, I would've brought the chips and salsa."

"They came here to make sure you were alright." Lily quickly spoke up.

"If they didn't come here, you would've…" Fran trailed off, unable to finish. RJ easily read her body language and didn't need her to finish.

"We can fill you in after you eat." Casey commented.

"No, that's fine." RJ replied, a distant, pensive look in his eyes as he sat down. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'd like a little time to myself."

The group seemed to understand, and everyone besides Fran quickly walked out.

"…If it makes you feel any better…it wasn't so bad. He…isn't so bad." RJ looked up at her as she nervously spoke. "He meant well, even if he didn't always seem to show it."

RJ laughed softly, then silently got to eating the yogurt in front of him, giving Fran the cold shoulder. She frowned and walked out to the living room with the others.

Before the Rangers could put together a plan for the day, their morphers chirped at them. Everyone, including Fran and Camille, looked over at Dai Shi, who seemed as surprised as they were.

"What was that?" Dai Shi asked.

"That's our alert. Someone's attacking the city." Casey rudely replied, as if implying that something was up.

"I gave no such…" He looked away. "Someone is trying to usurp me. Camille, stay here with my master. I shall go and see what is going on." Dai Shi grabbed his cloak and marched out angrily.

"Oh great. Babysitting an amnesiatic master and his little human friend. Just what I've always wanted to do." Camille muttered sarcastically.

"Well, it looks like it's just you two with RJ." Lily commented. "We got a monster to fight."

"Well, he just wants to be alone, so it shouldn't be too hard." Fran replied.

"Let's hope." Camille added.

The Rangers rushed out to the town's commercial district, where Spindarella was out spraying people with her webbing. "Master Carnisoar will be so proud!" She shouted.

"Not if you don't make it back to him!" Casey taunted, the three of them morphed and ready to fight.

"Good! You humans have arrived!" She cheerily commented.

"We don't have time for this!" Casey shouted. "I'll free the people. You two fight her."

"Right!"

Meanwhile…

"…So I did this?" RJ asked Camille, looking over her wrist.

"Yes, you did."

"Well, I didn't want to. I guess the one thing I vaguely remember wasn't a dream, then." He frowned in self-disappointment. "You need a steadier splint than this. I could throw one together with stuff from the loft."

"So we're going to the loft?" Fran asked, poking her head in.

"I'm fine. Just…don't sit on my wrist again." Her venomous glare broke ever so quickly, giving a momentary humored smile.

"Can do." He grinned. "You're not a very soft cushion, anyways. You could use a good meal, put a little weight on you. No wonder I snapped your wrist, I could probably break anything on you. Arm, rib, hip, yeah." He sat her down in a chair. "Hope you don't mind me making her something. I'll pay you back."

"That's okay. You've already done so a bit anyways."

"I did?" RJ gave Fran a look. "…Bill me."

"No problem. We need to go shopping here anyways." Fran smiled nervously.

"…Okay."

As RJ scoured the freezer, Camille looked over at him. "Why are you doing this?"

RJ turned back with an ice pack and set it on her wrist. "Because I've deduced that you and Dai Shi are not trying to kill us, and me, right now. I might as well share the hospitality, right?"

"I suppose." Camille replied, adjusting the ice pack. "This was all his idea. You used to be his master, so he thought to repay you once for your useful training."

RJ stood still, facing away from her. His voice dropped to one more serious, yet not quite like the way the Iron Wolf deepened it. "He's not my former student."

"…What?"

"I had a student once, true. But he is not your leader. My student is lost to us at the moment."

"At the moment?" Camille scoffed. "Where else would he be?"

"He's being held against his will somewhere deep inside himself. But we'll find him someday."

"What makes you so confident that he will…be found?"

"Because if there's one thing I taught him right, it was to survive above all." RJ smiled warmly. "Obviously it was one of my better lessons." He turned around, showing his cheery smile. "Besides, somebody around here has to be positive. You're all so morbid today!" He walked over to the pan rack. "Maybe everybody just needs one of my home cooked meals. Are you a vegetarian?" He asked Camille while pointing the frying pan at her.

Back in the town center…

Casey used his tiger spirit to burn away the webs while Theo and Lily deflected Spindarella's attacks from her rejuvenated belt straps.

"Not these again! Lily!" Theo shouted.

"No need to call for me! I'm on it!"

Lily prepared to tie up Spindarella's belts again, but the arachnid expected it. She laid low, waiting for Lily to go through the motions.

Lily caught her moment and let loose the spiraling Jungle Mace ball, and Spindarella cackled. Her belt limbs spread out like a budding flower, then snapped back around the heavy iron ball, clamping it tightly and holding it in place. With a little bit of effort and a great deal of her strength focused into her legs, she stopped the mace's momentum and began to counter.

The belts twisted and began to twirl the chain around both Lily's hand and the mace's handle, preventing her from escaping the arachnid's wrath.

"Once bitten, twice shy, little girl! There was no way you could fool me with that old trick again!" Spindarella taunted as she yanked Lily towards her.

"Lily!" Theo shouted, charging at Spindarella's belts with his fans. She fired off a quick web and ensnared him, smiling as he hit the ground and writhed about. "Casey, help!"

"Guys! Hold on!" Casey shouted.

Back at Dai Shi's palace…

"I should have known you would try to overthrow me." Dai Shi growled at Carnisoar, whom he found sitting on his throne.

"You've been consorting with the enemy! I've had Rinshi watching you the whole week, and you've grown weak!"

"I've been sparring with them, learning their weaknesses, finding out how to destroy them from the inside out."

"Then why haven't you done so yet?" Carnisoar stood up angrily. "I go to create a little relaxing carnage and return to find you having dinner with the enemy!"

"You may be my master, but that is still my throne and this is still my palace and the Rinshi are my servants. Why did you send out Spindarella?"

"She was just standing here, waiting for you, when she should be out fighting the Rangers!"

"I have decided upon one thing at the moment, and I shall finish it." Dai Shi turned and walked out. "I will return briefly." His voice echoed in from the halls.

"Pathetic child…" Carnisoar sneered, sitting back down on Dai Shi's throne.

Back in town…

"Not today, child!" Spindarella shouted, firing a web at Casey and cementing him in the concrete.

"No!" Casey shouted, trying to get free.

Spindarella cackled at their misfortune as she roughly yanked Lily's Jungle Mace, dropping her to the ground. She looked up at the sky and cheerily screamed. "You see me, Stingarella? This's for you!"

A thunderous roar filled the air, and a plasma-like black lion surged through the air, burning away the webs and smashing the meteor hammer's ball out of her grasp. Dai Shi walked out in his Lion Armor as his animal spirit sent Spindarella flying through the air and kissing the pavement thirty yards away. The Rangers looked over at him in awe.

Meanwhile…

"Everybody settled in?" RJ asked as the girls began to dig into the egg and hash brown mixture.

"I am fine." Camille replied. Fran nodded and smiled with closed lips while she chewed.

"Good. Then I can go. Enjoy!" RJ went to leave, which made Camille panic a little.

"You can't go!" Camille ordered.

"Why?"

"Well, not without me." She stood up. "Dai Shi wants you to be monitored by me for the time being, and I'm already on his bad side for trying to kill you as it is."

Fran's eyes widened. "Well, I'm going with you too!"

"I don't need your help!" Camille scoffed.

"Well, I…I still don't trust you alone with him. Even if you haven't attacked any of us, you're still…you're still you."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Ladies, ladies…" RJ tried breaking the two up.

"It means that you're backstabbing and sneaky!"

"C'mon now, just have breakfast and you both can come with me back to the loft."

"Shut up!" Camille growled at him.

"Don't you tell him to shut up!"

Camille's eyes widened and she appeared be dry heaving. "Serves you right…" Fran muttered. Suddenly, Camille lurched forward, launching a rather large housefly in suspenders at the table out of her mouth. The creature's wings twitched, and it got to its feet rather quickly. "Whoa, did I hear a fight going on out here?"

"Beat it, Flit!" Camille backhanded the fly with her good hand, sending it hurdling towards RJ. He caught the large fly and winced as the saliva-coated egg hash the poor thing was covered in oozed in the crevices in his hand.

"Thank you, thank you! Just please don't kill me, great Pai Zhuq Master! I'm too young to die!"

"…Why would I do that?" He asked the twitching insect as he grabbed a towel to wipe him down. "I don't even know who…or what…you are." RJ wiped him down, then did the same for his hand.

"His name is Flit, and he's a pest." Camille replied coldly. "But I could make use of him today…" She sighed. "Flit. Go find Dai Shi and inform him that the three of us are going to the pizza parlor." Fran gave her a look of victory, and she scowled back.

"On my way, Camille!" Flit fluttered his wings to remove the small specks of spit left, then flew out the open window.

"Alright then…" RJ shut the window while feeling entirely confused with his current situation, but he was in charge of everyone's actions, to a large extent. Now, to go home and meditate. "I'll take Fran with me. We'll meet you there?"

"If you insist. We must take the same route, though."

"Just follow my lead." RJ replied cheerfully. "To the front yard."

On the sidewalk in front of the house, RJ turned his back on Fran and got down on one knee. "I'll give you a piggyback ride."

"Are you sure that your back's fit for carrying people?" Fran cautiously asked.

"My back's fine. I actually feel a lot better than I did before all this…negative vibe venting. So c'mon. No time to waste."

She gently climbed up and he stood up with ease as she secured her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He sighed deeply and she could feel his body throwing off a much greater amount of heat. RJ then looked over at Camille and gave a nod before he grabbed Fran's arms and started on a sprint.

Camille's eyes widened. He was going almost as fast as he had several days ago. "Hm…" Camille mused as she began her rooftop sprint to catch up with him.

Back downtown, Spindarella stood up slowly as the Rangers rallied around Dai Shi.

"Thanks." Lily commented. Dai Shi turned his head at her, and she could feel a glare piercing out from behind his helmet.

"Master Dai Shi…why?! We're so close to destroying them!"

"I told you to stay put. Carnisoar is not your master, I am." He sneered.

"You…" She clenched her fists from the extreme malice. "You've let your host corrupt you!"

The Rangers spared no time summoning and charging the Claw Cannon as Dai Shi leapt into the air. "Fire!"

As the ball of energy from the Claw Cannon approached Spindarella, Dai Shi quickly approached her from the skies with a powerful claw attack ready to crush her. "I will not end like this!" She shouted, launching her belts up at Dai Shi. He tore them to shreds with a flurry of sharp swipes just in time to let the Claw Cannon's shot sail through the remains, crashing into her and causing severe damage. Dai Shi then came down with a sharp slash and shattered her carapace.

"Nooo!" She cried out as she flew back. "Stingarella, I was so close!" The rest of her body began to crack and crumble into granite as she smashed into the blacktop, her remains scattering into hunks and disintegrating.

"Hmph…" Dai Shi huffed. "Next time we meet, I will show no mercy." He warned the Rangers before disappearing in a darkly hued gold light.

The Rangers began to run back to Fran's house, but were interrupted by a call from the loft.

"Hey guys, I'm back home. Come meet me there." RJ's voice sounded oddly…empty.

"We're on our way!" Lily cheerily replied, hoping her enthusiasm would spread to him and drown his emptiness by the time they arrived.

They arrived to find Dai Shi, Fran, and Camille sitting at an empty table, a closed sign on the front door of the pizza shop. Fran fidgeted around with a deep purple envelope in her lap, her face turning slightly red.

"About time you arrived." Camille snipped. "He got tired of waiting, so he set things on the counter for you." Fran got up and promptly left as she heard RJ descending the staircase.

"Oh good, fashionably late." RJ replied, looking freshly showered and clothed. "Had a feeling you'd be." He picked the three envelopes up that were sitting on the counter and handed them to the trio. They looked similar to the envelope that Fran had walked out with. "Here, take these. Normally I'd ask people to open their gifts when I'm not around, but I have things to tell you after you open them anyways, so I might as well not leave the area."

The rangers looked at him oddly, then broke the wax seal on the envelopes and opened them up. To their surprise, wads of money equal to their paychecks sat inside. They looked up at him, confused.

"I'm giving you your pay early this week, because I will miss out on paying you when I should."

"Why? Where're you going?" Lily asked.

"Ah, the question is less where I'll be, and more where you'll be." RJ replied. "I'm locking you out of the loft for the next few days."

"What?" They shouted in unison, nearly dropping the envelopes.

"It's not a very big deal, really. Dai Shi and I have come to an agreement; in exchange to a promise for a one-on-one fight in three days, he won't send a single Rinshi into the city. So you guys don't even need me or the loft!" RJ smiled brightly.

"But we live here!" Casey protested.

"I'm gonna give you ten minutes to pack up enough stuff for three days. The hotel three blocks away is really nice and really cheap, or you guys could go camping for three days. I'll even chip in a bag of marshmallows if you'd like to do that."

"You can't go through with this!" Theo whined.

"But I already have made my decision, and to clarify, this's my home, not yours. I merely let you stay here because you're my students. I could have you all sleeping on the roof, or paying rent, or even living outside in the alleyway by the dumpster. But I'm a nice and caring master, so I let you stay here." He smiled softly, then let it drop into a mild scowl. "Just be happy I've never had you sleep on a beach during high tide and forced you to fish out all your belongings in the morning while swimming to shore against the current while I sit all dry and toasty in a row boat. Because I could if you wanted me to."

The trio gave varying looks of terror. "I think we'll pass on that last one." Lily replied.

"Good. So, go upstairs and collect your things. You've got ten minutes starting…now." He started the stopwatch function on his watch and the trio raced upstairs.

"That last one sounded rather specific…" Dai Shi replied, grinning.

"Every morning for ten years straight. Eventually let myself float out to sea, ended up twenty miles off-shore before he realized I wasn't going to do it anymore." RJ's voice sounded distant and cold. He slammed his hands on the counter, then looked up at Dai Shi and Camille. "I'd like to be alone, please. Go."

"Why is RJ doing this to us? What did we do to him?" Casey whined as he shoved his civilian clothes into his bookbag. "Shouldn't we be staying here, helping him train?"

"We should be, but he's being really stubborn. Does he really think he's better off without us around?" Lily mused aloud. "Ugh. I say that we just stay, even if he doesn't want us to."

"Well as much as I want to agree with you Lil, he's our master, and if he wants us to leave then we should leave." Theo replied, walking over towards the basketball stand to grab a ball for recreation. It was then that he narrowly avoided stepping on a cyan envelope that looked similar to the purple envelopes RJ had given them. "Hm…" Theo bent over to pick up the envelope.

"Don't." RJ's voice called out roughly, startling the young jaguar. He looked up to see RJ leaning against the wall. "You've got thirty seconds."

"We want to stay here and help you get ready for this fight." Lily stepped forward and stated.

"Twenty-four. Better make sure you have everything. Twenty."

"RJ, please? You're always helping us out with our training and-"

"Ten…nine…eight…" RJ counted louder than Casey was speaking, drowning him out with ease.

"Do you want us to be there when you fight?"

"Five…four…three…"

Lily sat down on the floor, cross-legged. If she could force Master Phant to teach her, getting RJ to let her stay would be no effort.

"Time's up. Now go." RJ crossed his arms and watched as Casey and Theo begrudgingly marched out. RJ looked at Lily and sighed. "You too."

"I'm going to stay and help you train."

"I train by myself."

"You can't-"

"I know what I can do, and as your master, I do recommend that you refrain from questioning my personal training methods. I know you'll get over my temporary abandonment. So go."

Lily stayed put, and RJ sighed. "Lily, sometimes you just have to give up. I want to be alone right now, and I shouldn't have to beg you to go. Lily…" RJ never thought he'd hear this scolding tone leave his mouth, and frankly, he wanted her to just go so he could stop. He sighed deeply and began walking towards her, making her back up slightly. "Get up." Lily stood up and left, leaving RJ to his own devices.


	7. Edge of the Ocean

RJ walked over and grabbed the envelope off the floor and walked over to his chair

RJ walked over and grabbed the envelope off the floor and walked over to his chair. He looked it over, looking at the unbroken seal, his father's personal seal. He sighed as old thoughts flooded his mind. Thoughts of floating in the sea, watching his belongings float away. Thoughts of the rowboat lectures, thoughts of shaking and getting sick from extreme fatigue. Thoughts of success and failure, lack of self-control, and the feeling of the backstabbing betrayal by all but one person around him.

It wasn't like the last part wasn't at least partially, if not mostly, his fault, but did he think his little monetary present would really make everything better? No, RJ decided, he did everything on his own, with little to no help at all. It's why he was alone now; nobody helped him better than himself and himself only, and that's how it would end.

Just him and Dai Shi, holding nothing back, the way RJ liked it. Nothing was more fair than that.

No father, no students, no pizza shop, no support, no nothing. This was it.

He Frisbee tossed the envelope across the room, watching it spiral down on its heavily laden corner and smiling. It was time to dig out his old clothing chest.

Dai Shi and Camille marched into the throne room, and Carnisoar was less than happy. "I want to train." Dai Shi commanded.

"Oh, so now you wish to have me teach you? Was my instruction to crush the Rangers not what you considered training?"

"The Wolf Master is the only tie I have left to these pathetic creatures. Once I kill him, there isn't anything left to hold me back. So if you train me to do so, I promise this stupidity and display of weakness will be worth it."

"You had better do so, or I will work you harder than you ever thought possible." Dai Shi bowed his head in humility. "Now, we start."

"_Focus, RJ. I know you can. Only allow one chain of thoughts to dominate your mind."_

_He breathed heavily, trying to block out the errant, violent voice in his mind. His own voice was smothered by the deeper one emerging and consuming him._

"_I can't hear my voice…" He choked out. He was hardly able to even say that, let alone sit still and meditate._

"_You need to focus on one specific thing. It's like meditation; you need a mantra. Just repeat a single thing over and over in your mind."_

_RJ took a deep breath and just repeated one thing over in his mind._

_Please go away. Please go away. Please go away…_

_Master Swoop joined him in meditation. It was the first time in three days that RJ had sat still for more than five minutes without leaping up and trying to bumrush the door. If Master Swoop hadn't thought to chain the young master to the floor, he would be more littered with bite marks and bruises than he already was._

_He was the only one who genuinely wanted to help the young man with his burden. It was a genuine shame, as he had always taken the young man to be a quick learner._

_Please go away, please…_

_(Why should I go…?)_

_RJ's eyes shot open as he breathed heavier. It was the first time the voice directly spoke to him, rather than just flooding his mind with a smokescreen._

_I want you to leave because…because I've lost everything because of you!_

_(You still have a lot left. You lost a lot of material things, really.)_

_I lost everyone's trust._

_(You have your fondest master here with you, yes?)_

_That's not the point!_

_Master Swoop looked up at RJ, sensing both halves of the young man growing stronger as RJ's breathing became labored. He put up his guard, just in case._

_(But it is the point. Obviously the people who you thought were great protectors would not dare to protect people from the thing that would kill everyone if it had the chance.)_

_It's not your choice to decide what is right and wrong! It's not mine, either!_

_(So you can't have a sense of right and wrong for yourself?)_

_That's not what I'm saying!_

_(Then what are you saying?)_

_That…I'm not strong enough to follow through with decisions like that._

_(Then I will help you become stronger.)_

_No! I don't want to fight anymore._

_(But…it's all you live for…)_

_Not anymore. I'm tried of fighting! I'm tired of trying to be the best! Look where it's gotten me!_

_RJ focused on the necklace he had recently started wearing out of habit, the one Master Swoop had given to him through Master Mao. RJ slowly tried raising his hand up to hold it, but the chains were too tight around his wrists. "Master…Swoop…"_

"_Yes?"_

"_I want…to hold…the focus ring…" He struggled out._

_(Are you shutting me out again?)_

_I can't let you run my life anymore. Nearly two decades is long enough._

_Master Swoop cautiously began unhooking the chains around RJ, steadying himself as best as he could to keep RJ down and himself stable. He then slowly lead RJ's shaking arms upwards and cupped his hands around the focus ring tied around his neck._

_(Don't you have the instinct to protect?)_

_I don't want to do it…_

_The voice was growing dimmer the harder RJ focused on the ring itself. Master Swoop chained RJ up tightly in his new position, making sure to secure him to the floor._

"_Is it helping?"_

"_Very much. Thank you." RJ's voice was steadier and calmer than before, which calmed the Bat Master's nerves a bit. _

_(Why not? You'll have wasted your life if you don't let me push you to the top of your potential, at the very least!)_

_I don't want to do it anymore! I don't want to be pushed anymore! I just want to fade away here._

"_Are you able to focus more?"_

"_I am…" RJ weakly smiled._

"_Good. You've made a little progress."_

"_Can I…stay like this all night? Is it safe?"_

"_Of course it is. I will come and check on you in the morning, and we'll start from the top."_

_RJ sighed deeply. This was so tiring…_

RJ's eyes slowly opened, and he looked over at his small alarm clock as the bells on top rang out.

He swung his arm out, knocking the alarm clock off the nightstand and into the carpet, where the sounds of the bells became muffled.

He partially sat up, letting his reminiscing dream flow out of his mind as thoughts of the new day rushed in to replace it.

He wasn't sure at what point yesterday he had fallen asleep, but he had managed to drag out his clothing chest and toss everything out of it.

He got up and slowly stumbled out of his room, like a zombie on the prowl. He yawned and scratched the back of his head, not worrying about being shirtless and in his boxers for the first time in months. He was too tired and worn out to even think about worrying about it.

He marched into the bathroom and just went through the motions of his daily routine, not really thinking about it. He then stumbled out and meandered down the steps to the main floor of the loft.

An errant basketball was lodged in the rafters, deflated and singed around a decent sized hole. RJ blinked and sighed, grabbing another basketball from the rack and tossing it at the deflated one, knocking it down to the floor with a dead thud.

He walked up to the catwalk to get a yogurt from the fridge, and noticed a half-empty bottle of vodka and two overturned shot glasses lined up perfectly on the counter, which quickly explained his current hatred of light. He grimaced and set the bottle away in the freezer and the shot glasses in the sink; he couldn't recall drinking at all last night, but then again, he couldn't recall much of anything.

His eyes widened at the thought that the vodka wasn't the only reason for him blacking out.

He sighed deeply and grabbed a spoon for his yogurt before making his way back to his room. He managed to juggle eating with getting dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and khaki jeans, then made his way back downstairs to the main room.

He looked around, feeling like he was going to go deaf from the silence. It had been a while since he had his house to himself. He grabbed the dead basketball and inspected it, finding that the large hole was about the size of his fist. He hummed in curiosity, then grabbed the other basketball that was on the floor.

He cracked the knuckles on his left hand and focused a portion of his energy into it. He then positioned himself into a concentrated offensive pose, one he would only consider in training. Once he could feel the heat emanating from his left forearm, he slammed the basketball down and let it bounce, slowly catching the rhythm of its bouncing.

He pulled back his left forearm and waited. Once he saw his chance, he forced his forearm forwards in a vicious cross punch, singing the orange rubbery shell with the heat his forearm was giving off and sending it flying towards the wall. As it hit the back wall, the ball's bladder exploded loudly, firing out all of the air inside and leaving a battered shell.

RJ grinned. "So…" He shifted his pose to a more relaxed stance and watched the popped ball slide down the wall.

"Impressive." A voice called out, startling RJ. He turned around to see Master Swoop standing against the opposite wall. How he got in without RJ hearing him was beyond his comprehension. "You've improved greatly since our last session two years ago. In fact, if I didn't know any better, that was a spirit-enhanced strike."

"I wasn't expecting you here; I would've cleaned up better if you gave me a little time."

"I sensed your animal spirit's sudden surge, so I came to make sure that you and the Rangers were alright. I see that they're not here right now."

RJ looked away. "I wanted to train on my own."

"Ah. Back to your old ways, then?" Master Swoop approached RJ and set his hand on the young master's shoulder. "You know that it doesn't help you to work on your own in your condition."

"I've been fine for at least four and a half years. One little…kickback…doesn't mean I have to be secured to the floor again and monitored round the clock."

"Then I see no reason to send your charges off while you train."

RJ sighed. "…I put them in danger. I already hurt one student before, I don't want to hurt any more of them now."

"Yet you never hurt any of them in any way, from what I saw. In fact, you protected your defenseless employee with your life many times, even while you were on your last leg. I was greatly impressed and very intrigued."

"…Really?" RJ seemed quite surprised.

"Yes, it was very impressive, the restraint you held. Or perhaps, the self-restraint it had." Master Swoop smiled, setting his arm at his side and walking past RJ. "Perhaps…you've found a level of synchronicity with it after all this time?"

"I'm not sure." RJ replied. "To be honest, I don't remember most of this week." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Perhaps then, it's decided on its own to bend to your will."

"That would be…totally mind-blowing, to say the least."

"Perhaps we could test it to see for ourselves?"

"Well, as long as I don't have to wreck any more of my basketballs. Those're pretty expensive."

"Of course." Master Swoop replied with a grin.

The day seemed to float by as Master Swoop and RJ trained vigorously, testing the limits of RJ's abilities. The Bat Master could see a vast progress from what he had seen weeks before when he came to train Theo; physically, RJ looked less pale and worn and more relaxed and vibrant, mentally, he was more focused and less drifting and vacant, and his skill and power levels both looked and felt a great deal stronger than they had even when he was in the Academy as the elder master's student. As the sun began to set, RJ dropped into his recliner, looking tired and worn out yet hyped up and ready for more.

"Is that all? I'd like to see you go through your katas." Master Swoop asked.

"I need five minutes." RJ replied, taking labored breaths while airing himself out by shaking the collar of his hooded sweatshirt.

"Perhaps we could have a one-on-one discussion while you rest?"

"Always." Master Swoop sat in front of RJ's recliner. "What's on your mind, Master?"

"I heard about your impending fight against Dai Shi." RJ furrowed his brows slightly. "How does this…make you feel?"

"Well, part of me feels that it was a wise decision because I've managed to give my students a well-deserved break, part of me thinks this's a horrible idea because I don't wish to fight, and a final part is just anxious to tear him to pieces."

"That's interesting. I thought you would be more thrilled than anything, to be honest."

"No, but my animal spirit is. All it wants to do is destroy every evil and/or disrespectful thing it sees, without any thought of consequence, and it doesn't want me to rest until it's done."

"Is there a specific reason, or is it just targeting one thing for no reason? Which do you think?"

"…To protect something…" RJ muttered. "To protect others, others around me. But I'm just so tired of training and fighting and-"

"Why?"

RJ sighed deeply, then looked down. "I…I just don't want to." He curled up in a ball in the chair. "The more I think about fighting, the more I think of how hard I pushed myself, how much negative karma I racked up just following my animal spirit, and especially how much of a spoiled brat I was about being the best…it reminds me of Jarrod. I'm reminded of how much I ruined his life, too. Here I thought that maybe he was better off without me, and…" His voice cracked ever so slightly as he hid his face. "and now he's Dai Shi. If he wasn't such a jerk, if he hadn't have picked it up from me, then none of this would've happened." He took a deep breath. "The only person I had to protect in my entire life…and I tossed him straight into the fire."

Master Swoop understood exactly what RJ meant. "Do you think you're going to do that again to the Rangers? Do you think you're doing that now?"

"I don't know…" He sniffled softly. "I just don't want to find out. These kids can't afford to deal with me like this right now."

"Deal with you? You all seem to be doing fine together. In fact, I think they've made you even stronger than you were before. But they need you as much as you need them, without a doubt. I think that even if they were just 'dealing' with you, as you say it, then it doesn't bother them in the least." RJ looked up, his face slightly red. He stayed silent as Master Swoop continued. "As for me, I don't think I'm 'dealing' with you; in fact, I consider it a life lesson that I can draw inspiration from, both a good and bad one. I think the Rangers could benefit from the same lessons; both the consequences of one's unfortunate mistakes and of perseverance through insurmountable odds. Nobody thought you'd even be able to function anywhere in society for the rest of your life, let alone function to a point where you could teach again, and I admit that there were times in the beginning where I felt the same. But you've proven everyone wrong, even your father, who was by far the most open critic to my effort to rehabilitate you." RJ glared. "I'm sure if he saw you now, he'd be amazed." RJ huffed in disbelief. "You don't think so?"

"I don't want his praise." RJ muttered.

"I see. Still too soon?"

"Much."

"My apologies." Master Swoop sighed. "If you'd like, I can sit with you for some guided meditation."

"Yeah." RJ curled out of his chair and quickly grabbed his mat from the hamper in the corner.

The days seemed to meld by for the Rangers inside the otherwise empty hotel room. Lily had spent most of her time sitting in front of the window, meditating. Casey found himself sleeping often while Theo wandered around, randomly finding time to juggle.

Lily sighed and looked over at her cell phone, which sat next to the TV and hadn't rang a single time in the last three days. She had worn her Ranger coat, in hopes that it would channel some good luck, or rather, enough bad luck to garner an attack from Dai Shi.

As if it heard her plea for an end to the silence, her phone rang. Lily picked it up anxiously and saw that it was Fran.

Better than nothing.

"Hello?"

Fran's voice sounded hectic. "Hey! Have you heard from RJ yet?"

"No. Have you?"

"Oh my goodness, he called me before you guys? Really? Weird!"

"What'd he say?"

"He wanted me to-"

A beep cut her off, and Lily looked at the screen. JKP's phone number. RJ was calling her. "Fran, Fran, he's on the other line right now."

"Really? Okay, I'll let you go, then! Call me back! Bye!"

Lily switched over as Theo took notice and Casey looked up from the sheets.

"RJ?" She half-shouted as her phone switched over.

"You three. Devil's Cove. Six hours." Click. Lily looked at the phone, unsure what he meant. She called Fran back.

"What'd he say?"

"Something about 'Devil's Cove'. What's that?"

"That's the beach area south of JKP, about two miles south. I wonder why he mentioned that."

"He wants us to meet him there in six hours."

"I hope he doesn't wanna take you guys swimming. That beach has some nasty riptides."

"Thanks for the warning." Lily replied. "So, what'd he call you for?"

"He wanted me to run the shop today."

"Oh…" Lily replied. "Well, it sounds like he's back to normal…kind've."

"Well, I gotta get going. Gotta open up the shop!" Fran cheerily replied. "Good luck at the beach."

"Thanks." Lily hung up as Fran did.

"So what's going on?" Casey lazily asked.

"RJ wants us to meet him at Devil's Cove in six hours. He didn't say much else."

"Hm. Devil's Cove is the beach, right?" Theo asked.

"Yeah. So…six hours."

"Longest six hours of my life…" Casey groaned before lying back on the bed.

The sun was setting, and the wind from across the ocean rushed through RJ's hair as he continued to meditate. Focus. It's all he had to do. Forget about petty inner quarrellings for the moment. The wind rustled through a large sheet of cloth behind him; he had company.

"Not much to this place." Dai Shi commented.

"Didn't want either of us to have a real ground advantage." RJ replied, giving a white lie. While the terrain hadn't changed from the way he remembered it, it really didn't help to have little, if no, solid ground to support himself. All he could do was hope what he could remember vaguely would give him just a slight edge.

"You didn't have to get all dressed up for me." Dai Shi teased, referring on RJ's uniform.

"Oh, I decided to air this old thing out before the moths ate it." RJ said as he stood up and faced Dai Shi, brushing off the errant sand off his boxing shorts.

The silk shorts still shone a royal purple with black stripes up the sides of his thighs in the fading sunlight. His cotton gi was a deeper purple, a slightly faded tyrian purple by the looks of it, and had not only black trimmings around the cuffs and collar, with the Order of the Claw's insignia sewed onto its chest. Tied around his hands and forearms were faded royal purple hemp ropes, still slightly damp and having gotten the unrolled sleeves of his gi a bit wet as well. His feet and shins were bound with a softer royal purple cloth, stained dark brown in places from dirt.

RJ grinned and struck his unique defensive pose after quickly rolling his wrists and cracking his knuckles to loosen the ropes slightly. "Shall we dance?"

Casey, Lily, and Theo arrived on a high plateau overlooking Devil's Cove, and Camille dropped out of her camouflage and smiled. "About time you got here. You're late."

"Late?" Lily asked.

"The fight's already started. See?" She pointed down to the beach with her good hand before going back to cradling her left arm.

"He's having the fight here?!" Casey replied in a shocked tone.

"Of all the places to fight…" Lily muttered.

"Hm…" Theo sat down and found his eyes gazing out to the ocean rather than the fight itself.

Dai Shi charged at RJ, summoning his Lion Armor while powering up his right hand. He bellowed as he leaped in the air getting a few feet off the ground as his right hand glowed with dark energy. RJ grinned softly; Dai Shi did just what he thought he'd do.

By the time Dai Shi could no longer turn away from the attack, RJ sidestepped to the left just enough to execute his favorite kind of counter.

As Dai Shi began to land, RJ turned at the waist, smacking the overlord's striking arm down with his right elbow and swiftly following up with a fierce jab to Dai Shi's exposed ribcage with his left elbow, sending the younger opponent dropping to his left side and rolling across the beach.

"I thought you would've remembered that one." RJ taunted, smiling as Dai Shi gingerly held his ribs, realizing that RJ had managed to crack several through his armor. Dai Shi growled and slowly got up.

Dai Shi growled and charged up a ball of dark energy and hurled it at RJ. The Pai Zhuq master deftly dodged it by dropping to the ground and rolling, tossing sand up all around. As the sand dropped down on him, his right hand dug into the loose terrain and tightly squeezed.

Dai Shi charged once again as RJ stayed down on the ground. He rose to his knees and tossed the clump of sand in his hand at Dai Shi, disorienting him for the moment. He grinned, then stood up, giving a solid uppercut with his elbow off of Dai Shi's chin, knocking him back. As Dai Shi stumbled back, RJ grabbed the fur mane on the back of his helmet to steady him, then rammed his left knee into Dai Shi's cracked ribs, making him yelp.

He briskly tossed Dai Shi's head downwards, then quickly turned on his heel to stand side to side with Dai Shi while wrapping his left arm around the overlord's throat, his elbow sitting directly above his Adam's apple. RJ then turned at the waist again and let Dai Shi's weight hold the rest of his body down as Dai Shi's head was dragged along with RJ's arm. A sharp charge of pains shot through Dai Shi's body, and RJ decided after a few moments that he had done enough and dropped him to the ground with a soft thud.

RJ sighed and walked off, looking out to the ocean. After a moment, his eyes stopped, stalling the rest of his body for a moment as his gaze focusing out at a single point on the vast horizon.

The small rowboat far out in the ocean rocked back and forth in the violent waves, its lone occupant visibly enjoying the whitewater fishing adventure. His bucket hat ruffled in the wind as he looked out to the beach. For a moment, he and the young master on the beach locked eyes, then parted just as soon as they had met.

Dai Shi slowly rose from his resting place and charged up a ball of energy. Before Lily even began to shout down to RJ to warn him, Dai Shi was up on his feet, already hurling the ball at him. The energy smashed RJ directly in the center of his spine, locking his body up and tossing him forwards, crashing face-first in the sand.

Dai Shi laughed at his former master's helplessness and walked over, slamming his foot down on RJ's back. "Very impressive. It's a shame your students aren't half as worthy to fight me as you are." RJ winced in pain as Dai Shi bent over and grabbed him by the hair. "If I knew I had to kill you first, I would've done this sooner."

He dragged the still-paralyzed RJ out into the surf, deciding to play with his kill before finishing him off. RJ's motionless yet still conscious body could do little more than play the part of a rag doll as Dai Shi dragged him through the rushing foam. His mind raced, sending out flashes of red alert as his fear of drowning was triggered; his body ignored them, still temporarily severed from his mind by the burning pain of the now-fading blast.

Dai Shi laughed and tossed RJ's body into the waves far out from the shore, and RJ could do nothing to keep himself afloat. His mind raced through old memories, constantly shifting back to the sight of the surface several feet above him as he sunk helplessly. RJ did what he could to hold his breath and not panic. In a few more seconds, the feeling came back in his appendages and he mentally grinned, but his brain finally overruled his common sense and he began to flail aimlessly.

(Why're you panicking? Stop!)

RJ stopped in shock. He recognized the voice that suddenly pushed through in his mind.

…What are you doing?

(Stop flailing. You're not done.)

But I can't swim! I'm going to drown!

(Calm down!)

I…I can't!

(Stop moving. Now. Hold your breath, and I will get us through this.)

…You will?

(I can't let this demon crush us in this kind of defeat. Now let go and stop breathing for a few seconds.)

RJ held his breath as his body autonomously dropped to the bottom of the ocean floor. As soon as his feet dug into the sandy gravel, his legs bent and bounced him up to the surface. He slowed his momentum and stayed beneath the surface, waiting until he could see Dai Shi's legs…

Dai Shi turned around to address Camille, letting his Lion Armor dissipate to show his violent grin. The trio began to run down the cliff, but Camille scowled, then shot her tongue out, catching the three and yanking them to the ground.

"This is not your fight." Camille warned.

"This's insane!" Lily shouted at her as she stood up.

"No. This is people keeping their promises. Your master knew that he could die today."

Just then, the waves split and shot upwards as RJ leaped from out of the water, catching everyone off-guard. RJ headbutted Dai Shi in the chest and tackled him to the surf, setting off sparks from the clashing energies between them. Dai Shi fell flat on his back as gentle purple flames danced across RJ's body.

"Miss me?" RJ taunted before giving him a rough right hook to the face. Dai Shi punched him in the gut and tossed him off, then charged up his right fist and rolled to the side, preparing to cave RJ's head in with a super-powered punch.

RJ hit the sand and quickly barrel rolled to avoid the rough punch. The sand kicked up into Dai Shi's face, temporarily blinding him. RJ got to his feet in a crouching position and he bounded forwards, dropping down on Dai Shi's back with a reinforced left elbow, quickly crushing Dai Shi, and letting out more sparks.

Alright, it's over! RJ temporarily gained control and began running back as Dai Shi stayed collapsed in the sand.

(Not yet! You've seen him in action. Just a little longer…)

Dai Shi growled and began to glow a tarnished gold.

(There it is! Turn around!) RJ turned around on command as Dai Shi summoned his lion spirit. (Oh! Your punch!)

Huh?

(The punch! You know…! Get ready!)

RJ's eyes widened once he realized what his spirit meant. He took the position and prepared the searing hot left hook he had done before as the flames around him dissipated.

The black and gold plasma lion charged at him as he channeled most of his remaining strength into his left forearm. As the lion swung at him, RJ dodged with a crouch to the side, and countered with a left hook, smashing the creature apart and making it disappear.

Dai Shi looked physically injured by the blow and RJ felt drained from the move, so it seemed almost natural that both would drop to their knees. RJ slowly rose to his feet first and got up, deciding on his own that the fight was over.

"What is he doing?" Camille complained.

"I thought you'd be happy about him sparing Dai Shi." Casey replied, grinning. Camille sneered.

Dai Shi growled and stood up, charging up and firing off another ball of dark energy, missing RJ by mere inches as the Pai Zhuq master calmly continued his trek up the beach.

Dai Shi got up and ran after RJ, having a small advantage on his side as RJ seemed completely off guard. The trio tried to call out to him, but he didn't seem to be paying attention.

(Five…four…three…two…)

RJ grinned and, just as Dai Shi came within range, RJ shot his elbow back, connecting with Dai Shi's face and rendering him unconscious. "Sleep well, young lion. Today's lesson is over." RJ commented before continuing on up the beach.

Camille's eyes widened and she ran down the cliff's decline as the Rangers just sat and smiled at their master.

"Hey! Anybody hungry for some pizza?" He called up to them. Their faces broke out in wide smiles. "Let's go!" RJ replied, grinning right along with them.

The moon shone brightly in the midnight sky as RJ channel surfed in the loft. Casey lie nearby in his hammock, in a deep sleep that not even the all-metal music video channel could wake him out of as RJ skipped over it. Theo calmly meditated over in his corner of the room, the sound of the rapidly changing channels blocked out of his thoughts. Lily had retreated to her room several hours before, nobody quite knowing what she was doing.

RJ continued to idly channel surf, but having anything in particular that he wanted to watch. He sighed deeply as the downstairs door shut and a pair of high heels marched up the steps at an even pace.

Fran poked her head in, her hair down and held back in a green dragonfly clip rather than in their pigtails. With her arms folded around her waist, she approached RJ with a modest smile.

She softly pointed to the dragonfly clip. "It was underneath the stool up there. Figures." She commented.

RJ grinned in a humored manner. "Yeah, figures." He turned off the TV then reached out in the near-dark to turn the lamp on. "So…how was today?"

"Busy. Long." Fran replied, sitting down in front of the side table.

"Sorry the others weren't here."

"You were out…fighting or whatever. No problem." She smiled unusually wide. "So…I take it that you're gonna be out there more often with them."

"Oh, no! Fighting's not my style. I prefer to sit back, relax, and watch the show. You can join me in the watching if we're not too busy."

"I think I've had enough…sightseeing for a lifetime."

"I get ya." RJ sighed softly.

"Well, I suppose I should go. Long day tomorrow." Fran stood up and let her smile fade. "Have a good night."

"As good as it's gonna get." RJ replied.

"Perhaps you should…reconsider your decision tonight?"

RJ looked up at her, then broke into a half-smile. "You're determined, at the very least. Maybe I'll think about it. Or maybe I won't."

Fran smiled, then turned around the leave. After a few steps, she stopped. "Thank you for the drink the other night. It numbed my wrist quite well." She smiled and let her arm drop to her side for a moment, cleverly pulling up her coat sleeve to reveal a cloth-wrapped splint as she walked out.

RJ turned a few shades of pale before turning the TV back on. Of all the things he'd come to realize about himself and others in the last week and a half, that was surely the one that would leave him guessing for a long while.


End file.
